Found
by HappyValentina
Summary: Lydia always knows where to find Stiles. She's just not sure what she will encounter when she does. My version of what could happen on "Letharia Vulpina" because the wait was killing me and I couldn't stop coming up with different horrible scenarios. They all lead to Stydia, though. My first Teen Wolf fic, hope you enjoy. Rated T for language & just in case. *EPILOGUE UP*
1. Chapter 1

_I wrote this because I've been building scenarios in my head since the last two episodes, and the wait is killing me, so I thought I might as well do something while the wait is over. Sorry if this suddenly becomes obsolete because it will obviously differ from the plot of today's episode, but I'm probably going to write it through, even if it's horribly different, because I still can't get this story out of my head. Hope someone likes it anyway._

_It's heavy Stydia, but everyone's in it. It's mostly told from Lydia's point of view. _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf, but if I did, I would ship everyone with everyone and it would be very confusing, so be glad I do not._

_My first Teen Wolf fic. Aaaaaah! Here we go!_

* * *

**Found**

_by HappyValentina_

It was pitch dark and cold.

The sound of the hammering reverberated further away and then stopped, echoing faintly for a brief moment. Her head suddenly didn't hurt anymore.

But she was choking.

It felt like being underwater. Under icy water, and her entire body seemed to be going numb, faster, faster. She blinked hard, and her eyes stung. Her lungs ached horribly, and her throat stung, like she was swallowing needles.

With her last wavering effort, she pushed herself with all her might upward, or what she hoped was upward, toward the surface. She needed air. She needed light.

The silence turned slowly, steadily into a low humming, like a rhythmic chanting growing closer, closer...

* * *

Lydia opened her eyes and gasped, scrambling for support and trying to discern her surroundings. She realized she was still in her car, and the chanting was only the chorus of the song playing on her radio.

She was covered in cold sweat, her hair sticking to her temples and the back of her neck. She started shivering, even if it wasn't that cold inside her car, and her chest felt heavy and tight. She must have fainted; she had screamed so loud that she had made herself pass out.

Her breathing slowed, even if her heartbeat didn't. She could not for the life of her remember what she had been doing all this time in the school parking lot. It was dark, and she had wanted to go home hours ago, but it wouldn't have made a difference. The sound of the hammering had been driving her crazy, and she just knew that no matter where she went, she would still hear it, and it would still be unbearable.

But now the hammering had stopped. So sudden, and so inexplicably. It did not make her feel better. It wasn't a good sign.

Without thinking too much about it, she put her car on 'reverse' and backed out of the parking space. She wasn't too sure of where she was heading, but she needed to move, and she needed to move fast. She swerved too quickly toward the right and almost didn't see the two people crossing the lot right in front of her, and she squealed and slammed on the brakes. Isaac jumped in front of Allison protectively, and Allison screamed.

"Oh my god, Lydia! Be careful!" her friend shouted, running up to her window. Lydia barely had the presence of mind to lower the window.

"I'm sorry! I didn't see you! I have to go, I have to hurry!"

"What's going on?" Allison asked worriedly. Isaac came up behind her, running his hands over his head in relief.

"I have to go to the hospital," Lydia said urgently. There, that was it. The hospital. She should have gone with Scott. Why didn't she go with Scott?

"The hospital? Are you okay?" Allison asked.

"I'm fine. But something's wrong. I have to go," Lydia said, looking apologetic and putting her car on 'drive' once more.

"Wait! We're coming with you!" Allison said, gesturing to Isaac to get in the back while she rounded the front of the car and hurried into the passenger seat. Lydia barely waited for her door to close when she was speeding off out of the parking lot and onto the street.

"Whoa, okay. Do you think you could slow down a bit?" Isaac said, grabbing tightly onto the door handle and the back of Lydia's headrest.

"I can't. There's something very wrong going on and we're going to be late," Lydia said in the most controlled voice she could muster. Allison put on her seatbelt hurriedly and stared at her friend concernedly.

"What are you talking about? What's going on? Did you have a vision or something?"

"Something."

"Is it something to do with Stiles?"

Lydia didn't answer. Instead she just pressed down harder on the accelerator, and the engine roared a little louder as they picked up speed.

"Seriously, we're gonna get stopped by cops and then what are we gonna do?"

"I don't care. I have to get there."

"Lydia, what did you see?" Allison pressed.

Before they knew it, they were pulling into the hospital parking lot, and the sight was totally unexpected, although not completely unfamiliar.

Chaos.

People were running out of the hospital in every direction. Vaguely familiar faces, staff members and patients and visitors all rushing out, cowering behind cars, behind bushes. There was a long electric cable whipping around from the roof, sending sparks everywhere. The roof of the hospital was like a mini-fireworks display. The lights inside the hospital flickered incessantly, as did the lamps outside.

There, at the far end of the lot, stood Kira, or at least Lydia was pretty sure it was Kira. The girl seemed to be hypnotized by the whipping cable, even as it swung around violently and headed in her direction.

Kira seemed to be frozen in panic, actually. She yelled out something, but just before the cable could reach her, two figures swooped down and tackled her to the ground, laying on top of her protectively. In the dim light from one streetlamp, Lydia could make out it was Scott and Derek, just before the cable whipped wildly around once last time and then the power went out completely.

The hospital and all its surroundings were sunken into darkness. The only illumination came from Lydia's car lamps, and the lamps of other cars as people drove off, and the blue and red blinking lights of ambulances as they pulled away.

Lydia gasped.

"Darkness," she whispered, mostly to herself. Allison covered her mouth with her hands, and Isaac pushed himself forward to have a better look at what was going on outside.

"Shit," Isaac whispered, his eyes glowing amber slightly as his werewolf powers kicked in. "I can see Scott and Derek, they're helping Kira up. We should probably drive around and pick them up, Lyd- LYDIA!"

"Lydia! Where are you going? Lydia!" Allison shouted.

Lydia had unlocked her door and was trying desperately to get out of the car, but something held her in place.

"I have to go! I have to see-!"

"Lydia, you're still wearing your seatbelt! Come on, let's just drive around the lot and pick them up, before-"

Lydia leaned over Allison's lap and wrenched the glove compartment over, shoving the contents out clumsily until she found what she was looking for: a flashlight. She took advantage of Allison's momentary distraction to undo her seatbelt quickly and jump out of the car.

"Lydia! WAIT! LYDIA!"

Lydia could barely see where she was going. She could hear Isaac jump out of the car and she assumed he was running after her.

"Lydia, the hospital is that way! You're going in the wrong direction!" he shouted after her. His voice sounded farther away than she expected. She had no idea how fast she could run.

"He's not in the hospital anymore!" she shouted back, her voice a lot stronger than she expected as well. She heard him calling for Scott and Derek, heard them shouting at each other, and Allison calling her name over and over, but it grew further and further away, and suddenly all she could hear was her own labored breathing as she ran, unable to see anything at all, and yet knowing exactly where she needed to go.

* * *

_Sorry for the shortness. I had to cut it off because I haven't finished the next part, and my hands hurt, and the EPISODE'S ABOUT TO START OMG OMG OMG._

_Good luck to everyone, I hope we all survive._

_-Vale._


	2. Chapter 2

_OMG I STILL CAN'T BREATHE MY BRAIN CANNOT PROPERLY PROCESS WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT ON THIS GODDAMNED SHOW WHAT IS EVEN GOING ON MY POOR BABIES STILES AND SCOTT PLEASE DON'T LET ANYTHING HORRIBLE HAPPEN TO THEM IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO STILES I'M GOING TO DIE BUT FIRST I WILL KILL JEFF DAVIS YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED SIR._

_Okay… deep breath._

_Chapter 2. Still a little short, but I like it. It keeps me going. Keeps me posting. Maybe if I keep it at this rate I might actually be able to finish this story before next episode. Wish me luck._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf. But if I did, I sure as hell wouldn't TORTURE MY BABIES LIKE THIS, JEFF DAVIS, WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU._

* * *

**Found**

Chapter 2

_by HappyValentina_

Lydia ran for who knows how long, even if she was unable to see where she was going, and she kept on running until her legs felt like they would give out. Her ankles ached like a bitch; those boots were definitively not made for long sprints. And she was cold, very cold, even as she worked up a sweat, the chilly air biting at her face. She started wheezing. And how had she not ran headfirst into a tree or a pole by now?

But she didn't care. Something in her head told her to keep going. _Run! Run! Run! Don't stop! You're almost there!_

Almost where?

Abruptly, she felt the urge to get her bearings and she stopped, nearly slipping on the ground. Wherever she was, it smelled like moss and dirt. She reached out a hand to her left and jumped a little when her fingers came in contact with something. A tree trunk. How deep into the woods had she gotten?

She was still not scared. She was all alone in the forest, following her faulty, unreliable instincts, but she was still not afraid. She was relying on her gut, and she would be okay as long as she followed it.

Or at least she hoped.

She stood there, catching her breath, still unable to see anything around her. Her eyes began to adjust to the dim moonlight filtering through the leaves of the trees above, but there were still so many confusing shadows around her. Her heartbeat was deafening in her own ears.

She licked her lips and tried to breathe slower, deeper. Her head felt a little fuzzy.

"St-Stiles? Stiles!" her voice was hesitant, raspy, and her throat hurt. From all the screaming, from all the running, from the dread that was making her colder and number by the second. She turned on the flashlight finally and shone it around.

"OH MY GOD!" she screamed, just as she spun around and the beam of light landed on a figure standing a foot away from her. A hand shot forward and covered her mouth while the other grabbed one of her arms to steady her.

"Lydia! It's me! Calm down," Derek said, muffling her voice until she realized who it was and stopped screaming. She brought the light quickly to his face and he squinted in the brightness.

"Derek, don't do that!" she exclaimed, still trembling, as he let her go.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded. Lydia turned back around and started shining the light on all the shadows she could.

"I was... I was following-"

"Your instinct?"

She abruptly remembered the previous night, when she had been so certain that Stiles was in that basement. She struggled to swallow.

"I know this time I can get it right," she whispered to herself. "I know it. He came this way."

"Who, Stiles?"

"Yes."

Derek peered into the darkness and sniffed the air. "I don't think he's here, Lydia. Let's go back."

"No, he is. I know it."

"And what exactly were you planning to do when you found him? Huh? What do you think he would do? You know he's not himself. You know that he's possessed."

Lydia spun around quickly and shone the light in Derek's face again.

"He's what?" she asked breathlessly. Derek winced and shielded his eyes with his hand.

"Argh! Didn't Scott tell you? Didn't Stiles?" he asked, shoving the lamp down. Lydia swallowed hard and shook her head. Derek sighed.

"Let's get out of here, Lydia. I'll explain everything later. But you can't-"

"He can't be."

"What?"

"He's not possessed," she said, shaking her head. "I would know."

Derek peered at her curiously with those disturbing glowing eyes of his. "What do you mean, you would know?"

Lydia blinked, letting out a trembling sigh. "I don't know. I just... I would know."

"Let's just go," he said after a moment. He put a hand on her shoulder to lead her back the way they came. Lydia started to follow, but then a noise made her stop.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

Lydia should have known by now it was pointless to ask that question to anyone. No one but her could hear the things she heard. And this time was no exception. There was a voice, whispering.

"Lydia?"

Lydia grabbed Derek's jacket to make him stop, make him be quiet, so she could listen.

_Everyone has it... but no one can lose it..._

Lydia turned around again and shone the light at the spot directly ahead.

_What is it?_

The light fell on a tree trunk. Behind the tree trunk, barely visible, was the silhouette of a person.

"Stiles?"

Stiles hesitantly came out of the shadow of the tree, trembling. Lydia's breath caught in her throat, and her chest swelled with relief.

"H-hey..." Stiles stammered, teeth chattering. Lydia approached him slowly.

"What are you doing here? How did you get here?"

He swallowed visibly and hunched over with the cold.

"I- everyone in the hospital started running like crazy... and I- I panicked and ran off too. I couldn't see anything, I couldn't find my dad, or Scott, or Melissa. Everyone had left... I got scared and I was really stressed from all the tests... I really hate hospitals," Stiles said in a typical run-off sentence. Lydia nodded sympathetically, taking another hesitant step toward him.

"I heard it. I heard the machine. The one that you were in, I could hear it, all day long. It was driving me crazy. I knew it meant something, so I came to find you."

"I'm glad you did," Stiles said, sighing with relief. He looked so frail, so scared. Lydia took another step forward and wrapped her arms around his torso, and his arms folded around her, protectively. A little too strong, a little too cold, but she couldn't help feel so completely relieved. She pressed her face into his chest and breathed deeply, in unison with him.

Then she heard it again.

_Everyone has it... but no one can lose it... what is it?_

She jerked back, as if she had just gottend burned, and pulled away. Stiles looked down at her, confused, his eyes pleading.

"What?" he asked. Lydia swallowed again, feeling her heart speed up again.

Derek was right.

"You're not Stiles."

Stiles's face went from utterly hurt and confused to sadistic maniac in a matter of seconds, and Lydia wanted to scream but she couldn't, because Stiles suddenly had a firm grip on her throat. Her feet left the ground. She heard Derek rush forward behind her.

"LYDIA!" he shouted just as he lunged at Stiles, but he gave a yelp when Stiles caught him in the gut with a swift punch, grabbed him by the neck and threw him against the nearest tree. There was the sound of Derek getting the wind knocked hard out of his body as he nearly cracked the tree in half, then hit the ground with a dry thud.

Lydia was begging for air as she hung two feet off the ground, the flashlight slipping from her hands as she grasped for support from Stiles's arm. It wasn't Stiles, she told herself. This creature had turned Stiles into a cold, icy shell with a grip like steel.

She was a second away from passing out, and the last thing she saw, the last thing she managed to focus on, was the black void of the creature's eyes, looking at her from where Stiles's warm brown eyes used to be.

* * *

_Okay, I just realise I might be torturing my babies a little bit, and obviously there's no excuse for that since I passionately want to strangle Jeff Davis whenever one of my babies suffer, but keep in mind that I did not hurt Isaac, and also bear with me because this will be over sooner than you think and I plan to make everything okay._

_Have a good day._

_-Vale._


	3. Chapter 3

_Yay! Already on chapter 3! And I made it longer! I sure hope I can keep up this pace. I really want to finish before "Echo house". _

_I'm rewatching all the episodes of season 3b so far. Still trying to get my head around a lot of things, figure some stuff out. I've also been reading a lot of theories, so if anything seems familiar here, that might be it. Some people out there have got some really interesting ideas, and a lot of skills following clues. _

_This might actually turn out a little longer than I expected._

_Anyway, I hope this makes sense, and I hope you enjoy it. _

_Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf. But if I did, it probably wouldn't be as enjoyable as the original show… Who am I kidding, it would mostly feature Stiles shirtless. I think we would all enjoy that, am I right? *nudge nudge*_

* * *

**Found**

Chapter 3

_by HappyValentina_

Darkness again. Lydia no longer felt like she was asphyxiating, but she felt heavy. So heavy. Her eyelids in particular weighed a ton. Someone was calling her name, but it was muffled and distant, like she had cotton in her ears. So she just started to drift off again...

In front of her, in the darkness, there was a sudden flash of light, and a voice in her head telling her to wake up. _Wake up!_

"WAKE UP!"

Lydia finally managed to open her eyes, and gasped and nearly screamed. A pair of eyes were right in her face, and for a moment they looked dark and bottomless, like the creature was staring right into her mind.

"Not again! It's me! It's still me, Lydia!" Derek shouted, putting a hand quickly over her mouth. "My head hurts enough without you doing your banshee screech right in my ear."

Lydia looked around, feeling horribly disoriented, and her body ached all over. She realized that she was lying on the ground in the forest, dry leaves crunching beneath her head as she glanced at her surroundings. It was still pitch dark, but out of the corner of her eye she could see the pool of light from the flashlight against a tree trunk. It gave her some reference. Her head stopped swimming at least a little bit.

"What happened? Where's Stiles?" she said, trying to sit up. Derek, who was crouching next to her, held out an arm to try to support her.

"Well, Stiles, or the thing that has taken over Stiles, threw me against a tree and threw you against another," Derek explained in a sour tone. He winced and reached a hand momentarily to the back of his head. "Then I guess he took off. At least he didn't kill you. Though we better get that checked," he said, gesturing now to her forehead. She lifted a hand to her temple and her fingers touched drying blood. She hissed in pain and her eyes watered.

"I'm... I don't..." she tried to remember what had happened, but she had fainted from lack of oxygen. She did vaguely recall that voice, the creature's whisper, in her head, just before she blacked out, but she couldn't remember what it had said.

"Come on, let's get you out of here," Derek said, helping her up to her feet. She wobbled there for a second, hands gripping his jacket tightly, or else she might have fallen over.

"What about you? Are you okay?" she asked feebly. He looked like he was in pain as well, but he just shrugged.

"I'll be fine. Although I can't believe it was Stiles who beat me up, My ego will probably never recover from that," he attempted to joke as he lifted her into his arms as gently as he could. She put an arm around his shoulders for support and shook her head as he started heading back the way they went. Lydia's flashlight stayed behind, its light becoming dimmer by the second.

"That wasn't Stiles," Lydia said quietly, staring over Derek's shoulder into the darkness.

* * *

"Oh my god! Is she okay?"

Sooner than she would have expected, they made it out of the woods, and voices woke her up. Lydia had been weaving in and out of consciousness the entire way, as Derek carried her, and she made a mental note to thank him some way. She and Derek had never gotten along particularly well, but maybe now they could start working toward a friendlier interaction.

He stopped walking, and Lydia heard people rushing up to them. Allison's face appeared above hers, looking worried-stricken. "Lydia? Are you okay?"

"She's fine. She might have a concussion, though," Derek said, setting her down gently and gesturing toward Melissa McCall. The nurse rushed up to them and immediately examined the injury on Lydia's forehead.

"We should take care of that right away. Come on, the power's been restored in the hospital," Melissa said, leading Lydia toward the hospital. They were across the street from it. The chaos in the parking lot was gone. Scott, Kira and Isaac were just coming up to them as well, followed closely by Sheriff Stilinski and Deputy Parrish hot on his heels. They were all fine, everyone was fine. Lydia suddenly felt like crying.

"What happened?" Sheriff Stilinski asked immediately, getting on Lydia's other side and holding her gently by the elbow.

"We'll, uh, we'll tell you later. We should take care of Lydia first," Derek said, throwing a quick glance in Deputy Parrish's direction. Lydia felt a wave of nausea. How were they supposed to explain to the Sheriff that his son had done this to them?

* * *

Half an hour later, Lydia was still lying in a gurney in the ER, and her mother was fussing over her, while Melissa and Allison stood by. Isaac and Kira sat outside, near the main desk, idly watching everything slowly return to normal.

At the far end of the hallway, Lydia could just see Derek, Scott and Sheriff Stilinski talking. She bit her lip and breathed heavily; the Sheriff's face seemed to contort with pain for a moment, before he put on a mask of complete control.

"Mom, I'm fine, really," she said absently as her mother started talking rapidly to Melissa about running tests or calling a specialist. They had told her simply that, in the chaos and panic of the blackout, Lydia had gotten out of her car, tripped and smacked her head on the pavement. Her mother hadn't asked too many questions for the moment, but Lydia was sure that she would eventually, and she had no idea how she would answer.

"I can assure you Lydia is going to be fine, Mrs. Martin," Melissa said. "She's not showing signs of a concussion, but we will keep her under observation overnight, just in case."

Lydia was immensely relieved when her mother left for a while, to fetch an overnight bag for Lydia and herself, before coming back to the hospital to stay with her daughter.

Fortunately for her, the others came into the ER and gathered around her bed, so she didn't have to move. She was still a bit dizzy, especially when she moved or breathed or basically did anything at all.

"How are you feeling?" Scott asked. Lydia ignored the question.

"What are we going to do?"

"Well, _you_ are going to stay here and rest," Melissa said, both comfortingly and scoldingly.

"About Stiles," Lydia clarified.

"They're searching for him right now," Sheriff Stilinski explained, his voice thick.

"Well, you better hope they don't find him," Derek said derisively. The sheriff, Scott and Kira threw him an unpleasant look. Derek rolled his eyes. "I'm serious. We better get in touch with Deaton."

"I already did. He says he's working on it," Scott said.

"Working on what?" Allison asked.

"I don't know," Scott said with a shrug. "I just hope it doesn't take him too long."

"But what exactly are we supposed to do in the meantime?" Isaac asked. "I mean, what if Stiles comes back, but he's still... you know... not Stiles?"

Derek suddenly stared at Kira intently. Kira met his eyes for a second, and then looked nervously away.

"Does anyone know what that thing is planning to do with Stiles? I mean, do we know what could happen to him if we don't get that thing out of him soon?" the sheriff asked.

"It's called a Nogitsune, a demon fox. And no, for the moment, we have no idea," Scott said.

"For the moment," Derek repeated, glancing at Kira again.

"How did it get inside Stiles, is what I wanna know," Sheriff Stilinski said, shaking his head.

"We don't know yet," Scott replied. "We still don't know a lot. But we'll figure it out. I'm sure Deaton would be able to explain quite a lot of it, we'll just have to wait for him to get back..."

Lydia stopped listening. Other noises were drowning out Scott's voice, and she shivered painfully as she heard them in her head.

A clock ticking. A grinding of metal on metal. An echo of heavy footsteps.

And that voice.

_Everyone has it... but no one can lose it... What is it?_

"Lydia?" Melissa asked, but her voice sounded so distant. Lydia put her trembling hands to her ears to cover them up, knowing full well that it would not make the voice and the noises go away.

"Lydia, what's wrong?" Allison asked. Lydia could barely distinguish her face, swimming in front of her, as her vision blurred.

_Everyone has it... but no one can lose it... What... is it...?_

"Lydia, what do you hear?" Sheriff Stilinski's voice was barely discernible now, as the ticking of the clock grew louder and louder, and every echoing footstep reverberated in her head and made her jump. She shut her eyes as hard as she could, wishing with all her might to make it stop, to make it go away. It did.

She opened her eyes tentatively.

_EVERYONE HAS IT! BUT NO ONE CAN LOSE IT! WHAT IS IT?_

Stiles appeared out of the sudden darkness in the room and shouted right in her face. She screamed and backed away desperately, shrinking away from him. It wasn't Stiles. The Nogitsune's black eyes stared right at her, imbuing her with fear like she had never felt it before.

She blinked and came to, still screaming bloody murder, tears streaming down her cheeks, and nearly tumbling off the gurney. The lights were back on and Stiles was nowhere in sight. Derek and Isaac had caught her by her arms and Allison and Melissa caught her by her legs and waist just in time before she could push herself off and onto the floor.

"No! No, please! Don't!" Lydia screeched, struggling to free herself. A few nurses rushed into the room to see what was going on. Melissa called for one of them to assist, and a petit nurse reached for something on top of the table next to the bed. Lydia tried with all her might to break free from everyone's grip, to sit up and explain, but then the nurse pierced the skin on her arm with a needle, pushing a sedative into her bloodstream, and it was not long before Lydia started to feel uncharacteristically calm and sleepy, even if she continued to cry quietly.

* * *

She had no idea how long it had been since she was sedated, but Lydia woke up when it was still dark, feeling strangely refreshed, and no longer dizzy. She was lying on her side in bed, but it didn't feel like a hospital bed. It didn't feel like her own bed either.

Someone stirred next to her and she glanced over her shoulder at a figure wearing a red t-shirt, sitting up quickly near the edge of the bed, breathing heavily. Lydia stopped breathing. This felt oddly familiar. She flipped onto her back and sat up as well, and realized that the person sitting next to her was Stiles.

It was the real Stiles, that much she was certain of.

Wait. Was this real? Was any of it real?

"You okay?" she asked groggily, grabbing his arm, like it was a natural thing to do. To touch Stiles. To wake up next to him. "Stiles..."

He nodded lightly, trying to catch his breath. "Yeah, I was just dreaming," he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment. He wasn't looking at her. "It was weird, it was like a dream within a dream," he explained.

"A nightmare?" she asked. She touched his knee. It was real and warm and solid. He sighed heavily.

"Yeah," he said, grabbing the hand that was caressing his knee. She massaged his arm, feeling increasingly that this had already happened before. Like a déjà vu. He turned slowly to look at her and stared, eyebrows tightly knit; his skin glowed with sweat.

She smiled at him. It was comforting to see the real Stiles again, even though she had no idea what was going on, or why she was feeling so apprehensive all of a sudden.

"Wait a sec, Lydia... what are you doing here?"

Before she could even think of an answer, the door to Stiles's room creaked, and they both turned toward it, startled. The door was ajar. Beyond it, it was pitch black, and incredibly eerie.

"Hang on," he mumbled, motioning to get up. Lydia grabbed his arm more forcefully.

"Stiles, where are you going?"

"I should close the door," he said, eyes fixed intently on the door.

"Just go back to sleep," she said, but she didn't know why she said it. If it had been up to her, she would have closed the door too. But not this time. Something was not right.

"No, I just have to close it," he repeated, sliding his legs over the edge of the mattress. She trembled.

"Dont' worry about it."

He pushed her hands gently away and stood up. "What if someone comes in?"

She sat there, motionless, watching him tentatively cross the room. She swallowed the lump in her throat. "Like who?"

Stiles didn't answer. He kept walking, slowly.

"Go back to sleep, Stiles," she said weakly. He still didn't look at her.

"No. What if they get in?" he said very quietly.

Another shiver racked her body.

"What if who gets in?" she asked, staring intently at the darkness beyond the door. She wanted to get up from the bed and pull him back, drag him back to the safety of the bed, but for some reason she couldn't move. Was it the effects of the sedative that had not worn off completely?

"Stiles?" she said, her voice becoming more high-pitched, more nervous, as he got closer to the door. "Just leave it, please."

He held out a hand and grabbed the doorknob, and suddenly Lydia knew that he wasn't planning to close the door.

"Stiles? Stiles, come back to bed. Stiles, please?"

He pulled it further open.

"Don't, stiles!" she pleaded desperately. "Don't! Don't go in there, please! Don't! Please, Stiles, DON'T!"

As she watched helplessly, Stiles wordlessly pulled the door fully open, and walked through it, his silhouette disappearing into the blackness.

Suddenly she felt like she could move again, and she willed herself up to her feet as quickly as she could, and darted toward the door, but in that split second, the door slammed shut behind Stiles.

She reached for the doorknob, but it wouldn't turn. Lydia started banging on the wood, shouting his name. There was a weird buzzing beyond the door, and light seeped into the dark room through the edges of the frame.

This wasn't real. It was a dream. She was dreaming. _They_ were dreaming.

"Wake up, Stiles!" she shouted as loudly as she could, fists painfully crashing down over and over onto the door. "It's not real! This is just a dream, Stiles! Wake up, Stiles!"

"WAKE UP!"

* * *

She woke up with a gasp. This time she did recognize her surroundings immediately. The all too familiar smell of antiseptic filled her nostrils, and she felt the tug of an intravenous tube attached to her hand as she tried to sit up. She was still in the hospital, and it was still the middle of the night.

Lydia saw her mother, fast asleep on the tiny couch on the right. There was no reason to wake her. Very carefully, Lydia got on all fours and scouted the entire room, finally spotting her purse on a chair by the door, along with her clothes neatly folded in a little pile. It was then that she realized she was wearing one of those horrid, stiff hospital gowns, but luckily her butt wasn't hanging out. At least she still had her underwear.

She got up from the bed as quietly as she could, pulling the metal IV stand along. The wheels only squeaked once, and fortunately it didn't wake her mother. She reached for her phone, and tiptoed toward the bathroom, closing the door as gently as possible. Sighing with relief, Lydia glanced at her reflection in the mirror. She looked a little more sullen than usual, but not too terrible. The wound on her forehead didn't look as ghastly as she had imagined it.

She sat down on the toilet cover, and browsed through her phone contacts quickly.

It rang several times, before a groggy voice finally picked up.

"Lydia?"

"Hey, Scott," she said quietly. "Sorry if I woke you up."

"Are you okay? Why are you whispering?"

"I'm fine. I'm still at the hospital. I didn't want to wake my mother. I just..."

She bit her lip thoughtfully. She could hear him sitting up in bed.

"What is it?"

"I think I know how the Nogitsune got into Stiles."

* * *

_Did that make any sense? If it didn't quite, I promise I'm going to explain it in the next chapter._

_Wish me luck. I feel like my eyes are about to fall out of my sockets and my fingers are going to turn to dust, but I'm still writing._

_-Vale._


	4. Chapter 4

_Shame on me! It's been, like, three days and I don't update? But I have a good excuse: I was sick. I had to take two sick days off from work, which I would've totally taken advantage off for writing, except that I was so sick that I could barely focus or even stay awake. Damn cold. I'm better now. To make it up to the people who have commented and favorited and followed, I have two chapters on the ready, back to back. And a third one on the way. Hope you enjoy them._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf, but if I did, there probably would be too much fluff and not enough clothes. Maybe that's not such a bad thing, tho. *wink wink*_

* * *

**Found**

Chapert 4

_by HappyValentina_

"So you've had this dream before?" Derek asked.

"Yes," Lydia replied. "I just forgot I did."

"You forgot you did," Derek repeated, not all too convinced. She glared at him.

"People forget dreams all the time. It's not uncommon."

It was the next morning, and Lydia had already been examined by the doctor and Scott's mom, and everything pointed out to her not having a concussion after all, so she was free to go. While her mother took care of discharge papers and insurance forms, Scott, Derek and Deaton had gone into Lydia's room to talk about her dream last night, and everything that had happened before, in case it was of any use.

"But you experienced a sort of déjà vu in this dream, and that's how you know you've had it before," Deaton said, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

"Yes."

"Are you sure Stiles never described this dream to you, and that's why you had it?" Scott asked.

Lydia blinked in confusion. "You mean Stiles had the same dream?"

Scott nodded. "Yeah, he told me about it, weeks ago. He was talking about having dreams within dreams. I didn't watch 'Inception', so it was a little bit hard to follow."

"Dreams within dreams?"

"Yeah. He said he kept waking up, only to find that he was still sleeping."

Lydia looked down at her hands. She wished she had remembered sooner. Then maybe she would have said something to Stiles, and they could have figured out what was going on earlier.

"This is a very interesting phenomenon," Deaton said, pacing a little in front of Lydia's bed. "The fact that you have been able to connect with Stiles in a subconscious level, even if you weren't aware of it, indicates that your connection may have existed even before you were his anchor for the sacrifice."

Lydia still looked perplexed. "It does?"

"It would explain why you could see the room in which Stiles claimed to be when he was sleepwalking," Deaton continued. "And also why you could hear the noise of the MRI scan before it even started.

"But I could also hear the buzzing of the power substation before William Barrow took Kira there, and that's how I knew where to go... and that had nothing to do with the Nogitsune," Lydia said, glancing at the three men in turn, "...right?"

"Actually, I'm pretty sure it had a lot to do with it," Derek spoke up. "You see, Kira is a Kitsune."

Scott looked like he might punch Derek. Lydia's eyes involuntarily became the size of golfballs. "I don't know why I'm surprised, but I am."

"She's a good one, but she's young and she doesn't know how to control her power. She probably doesn't even know everything that she might be able to do once she does."

"So you're saying... what are you saying?"

"Yesterday, I told Kira to show me what Barrow did to her at the power substation, and as it turns out, he used her to jumpstart the Nogitsune's power."

"Why?"

"Because he was being controlled by the Nogitsune," Deaton said. Lydia's mouth turned into a small 'o' of realization. She had read about it, but Deaton continued nonetheless. "Nogitsune are tricksters. They can get away with a lot of things, even bewitching people into doing things for them."

"I didn't want to believe it, but it's true," Scott interjected. "Stiles left the message for Barrow to kidnap Kira, because they needed her."

"And the fact that you can sense what the Nogitsune's next move is going to be is essential, if we really want to find Stiles before the Oni do."

Lydia shivered visibly. Just thinking about the Oni gave her chills; she still could not shake the awful coldness that invaded her when she encountered them.

"I'm gonna go," Derek announced suddenly, turning toward the door. "I'm sure your mom will be back soon. Maybe you guys don't mind about having to explain why a veterinarian is visiting you for no apparent reason, but I don't feel like explaining my presence." He left without saying goodbye.

"Is there anything else you need to tell us, Lydia?" Deaton asked. Lydia thought about it for a moment.

"Scott, why were they doing an MRI scan on Stiles in the first place?"

Scott's mouth opened and closed a couple of times. Lydia stared at him intently. It was obvious that something was deeply wrong with Stiles; Lydia had long figured that his nightmares and hallucinations, along with Allison's and Scott's, were merely a side effect of the sacrifice. But it seemed that, in Stiles's case particularly, it was too much to simply be resolved through therapy. Something more complicated was going on. She had just been too afraid to ask about it. Until now.

Scott took a deep breath and hesitated before starting. "There is a possibility that Stiles could have a... mental illness. Frontotemporal dementia. The same illness that killed his mother."

Lydia's mouth went dry.

"But... isn't it common to mistake possession with mental illness? They used to do it all the time. They even establish that about Kitsune possession." She licked her lips. "Maybe his symptoms are just because he's possessed."

Scott glanced at Deaton.

"It's possible," the veterinarian said. "On the other hand, it could be that Stiles's mental deterioration have made him an easy target for the Nogitsune. Stiles is also quite clever, you could say, clever like a fox. Maybe the Nogitsune saw in him a sort of kindred spirit."

Lydia nodded, her eyes filling with tears.

"We're going to work this out, Lydia. I don't want anything to happen to Stiles just as much as you do. We will find a way to save him," Deaton said, placing a reassuring hand on Lydia's shoulder. Lydia nodded slowly, but she wasn't wholly convinced.

* * *

That day, Lydia's mom didn't go to work: after taking Lydia home, she called the school and let them know that she had to keep an eye on her daughter, so Lydia had to put up with her mother checking up on her every fifteen minutes.

Lydia felt horribly restless and idle, sitting on her bed and going through the internet researching Kitsune and mental illnesses. She printed stuff out, wrote down notes and tagged some papers with neon-colored post-its. Pretty soon, her bed resembled the crazy boards all over Stiles's bedroom walls.

"Lydia, honey?" her mom knocked on the door, and Lydia tried fruitlessly to cover the piles of paper surrounding her. Her mom looked at her a little concerned, and Lydia smiled nonchalantly.

"I was bored and called Allison to see if we had any homework."

Her mom nodded and gestured to the hallway. "You have a visitor."

Lydia held her breath until she realized it was Kira.

"Hi," the girl said, waving her hand and looking more bashful than usual as she entered the room. Lydia tried to smile in response.

Lydia's mom left them alone, and Kira stood awkwardly in front of the bed. "I, uh, just got out of school and I wanted to see how you were doing. Scott said that you were released from the hospital this morning."

"I'm fine, thanks," Lydia said, although the wound on her forehead probably established otherwise. She got up and started moving the papers, trying to organize them in neat piles and placing them on various surfaces of her room.

"I'm really sorry," Kira said suddenly. Lydia stopped what she was doing.

"What for?"

Kira sat down hesitantly and took a deep breath. "Scott told me that you know that... that I'm..."

"A mythological being from traditional Japanese folklore?"

"That, yeah."

"My closest friends are mostly werewolves, our local veterinarian is a Druid and I'm a banshee. Trust me, you fit right in."

"But you won't tell anyone, will you?"

Lydia looked at Kira and saw how truly nervous the girl was. "Of course not," she replied. "I'm just glad you're one of the good ones."

Kira looked like she might be sick. "I seriously don't know... I mean, I just feel like this is all my fault."

"You mean because William Barrow escaped, kidnapped you, and used your Kitsune power to jumpstart the power of the Nogitsune inside Stiles?"

Lydia said all of this without looking at Kira. She put the last pile of papers on her bedside table and turned to the girl. Kira looked completely mortified.

"Yeah, that's what I'm sorry for," she said in a strangled voice. Lydia shook her head.

"It's not your fault," she said quietly. Kira glanced down at her hands, not wholly convinced. Lydia sighed. "It was probably going to happen anyway. If the Nogitsune is as clever as we ought to believe, then it would have found another way."

Kira nodded, still uncertain. "I guess you're right."

"What we need to do now is figure out how to stop it. So," Lydia said, sitting down in front of her laptop again, "how much do you know about Kitsune?"

They spent the next hour researching. Lydia told Kira what she knew so far, she showed her all the information she had compiled, and Kira showed Lydia some books that she got from her own house.

"How did you not know that you were a Kitsune?" Lydia asked after a silence. Kira appeared embarrassed.

"I don't know... I don't know if it's something that was supposed to happen, or if it just... happened."

"Have you thought about asking your parents?"

Kira shook her head slowly. "I get the feeling that, if they know, it means they were trying to keep it a secret for a reason. And if they don't know anything about it, then..."

"They're going to think you're crazy?"

Kira sighed deeply and nodded. Lydia gave her a sympathetic look. "I've been there. So many times..."

Kira didn't laugh. Lydia just kept leafing through one of Kira's books. It started out establishing the same thing that all the other sources they had looked up; talking about Nogitsune being tricksters or vengeful spirits, seeking revenge for offenses or just looking to cause trouble. Whatever this one seemed to be after, it was definitively more than just being a pain in the ass.

"I can't seem to find anything else," Kira announced, closing another large tome and placing it on the pile at the edge of Lydia's bed.

"Wait, what's this?" Lydia asked, pointing at the page. Kira stood up and looked over Lydia's shoulder.

"Kitsune-ken. It's like Jan-ken," she said. Lydia turned to her with one raised eyebrow.

"You mean Jan-ken-pon? As in the Japanese version of rock-paper-scissors?"

"Wow, you do know a lot of stuff."

"What does rock-paper-scissors have to do with anything?"

"It says so right here," Kira explained, pulling the book into her lap as she sat on the edge of Lydia's bed. "There's a version of the game called Kitsune-ken, or fox-fist. But instead of rock-paper-scissors, the hand gestures represent a fox, a hunter and a headman."

"A headman?"

"The head of the village. The leader." Lydia nodded thoughtfully, while Kira continued reading. "The headman outranks the hunter. The hunter kills the fox. And the fox bewitches the headman."

Lydia stared off into space.

"It's just a game, it really doesn't mean anything. It was just an older version of the game before rock-paper-scissors became more popular," Kira said dismissively.

"No, but what if it's not?" Lydia whispered., and Kira looked confused. "We have foxes, we have headmen and we have hunters. What if that's the key to finding out what the Nogitsune wants?"

"You mean, whether it's seeking vengeance or just causing chaos?"

Lydia bit her lip for a moment; she wasn't sure if it was the right time to tell Kira that this Nogitsune was probably seeking revenge and it probably had to do with Kira and her family. Because all this problem started out around the same time that Kira showed up. It couldn't just be a coincidence.

"What if the fox-fist analogy is a way to know what its next move is going to be?" Lydia continued.

"Well, then, who's the hunter? Who's the headman?" Kira asked. Her eyes widened. "Is the fox me or Stiles?"

Lydia stood up and glanced around at all their work, as if the answers were scattered somewhere in plain sight. She could almost see the red strings connecting everything, the way that Stiles did.

"My head hurts," she finally said, wincing a little. Kira stood up nervously and grabbed her bag.

"Then maybe I should go. I shouldn't have made you exert yourself like this, when you've just come out of the hospital. Maybe we should continue this later, when you're feeling better.

"Or maybe you should drive us both to the vet clinic," Lydia said, nodding determinately.

* * *

"Bye, Mrs. Martin," Lydia heard Kira say a couple of minutes later, from downstairs.

"Oh, Kira, I thought you'd like to stay for dinner," her mother replied.

"Thank you, but I promised my parents I'd be home in time for dinner."

"Well then, maybe some other time."

"You should know, Lydia was going to take a nap. She said she wasn't hungry yet."

"Oh, okay. Well, goodbye, sweetie."

"Goodbye."

The front door opened and closed. Lydia grabbed her bag and dashed away from her bedroom door, sneaking out the window as quickly as possible. She hid out of sight, and heard her mother open the door to her room, mistake the pillows under the blankets for her sleeping daughter, then close the door again. Lydia took it as her cue to move.

She climbed down a drainpipe down the side of her house, landed safely on the grass, and hurried toward Kira's car just before Kira pulled away from the curb.

"Oh thank god! I thought you would fall and break your neck and it would be on my conscience," Kira said, blowing a sigh of relief as she drove away as quickly as possible. Lydia was about to reply when she started hearing a clock ticking. She had heard that before. But it was louder this time.

"Do you..." she started asking, but looked at Kira, who seemed unfazed. "Never mind."

* * *

_Chapter 5 coming right up._

_By the way, good luck to everyone tomorrow. I get the feeling most of us will be on the brink of death by angst and sever anxiety._

_-Vale._


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5! Yay! Moving along! Here we go! I'm never sleeping again, am I?_

_I was going to comment on the last chapter and this one: everything I know about Kitsune and Nogitsune and such things about Japanese folklore, I found it all in Wikipedia. I just found it all very interesting so I tried my best to include it in my story. Keep that in mind if you find any inaccuracies, it's not my fault, it's whoever updated the Wikipedia pages. _

_Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf, but if I did, I would probably make two-hour specials like every two weeks, just so we could all have a little more Teen Wolf._

* * *

**Found**

Chapter 5

_by HappyValentina _

Lydia had called Scott on the way to the vet clinic, so he could meet them there. She also tried calling Allison, but her phone was off.

"That's weird," Lydia said to herself as they pulled into a parking space.

Scott roared up behind them, with Isaac. He greeted Kira with the fondest smile, and Lydia couldn't help but roll her eyes and smile. Scott's lovesick puppy was showing.

Deaton was waiting for them inside; he was immersed in work, placing liquids on vials. Surprisingly, Derek was also there, sitting in a corner.

"Were you not going to invite me?" he asked, catching Lydia's questioning look.

"It didn't occur to me," she said dryly. Derek lifted an eyebrow slowly.

A couple of seconds later, the sound of two motorcycles outside indicated that the twins had also arrived uninvited. "Your escorts are here," Isaac said a little annoyed, rolling his eyes at Scott.

"They're not my escorts. I thought they had stopped following me around."

Lydia sighed. She was in no mood to see Aiden. She was too preoccupied with the issue at hand. As Ethan and Aiden entered, she busied herself with finding a place to sit, and tugging Kira along with her.

"So, what's this about?" Scott asked, turning to the girls.

Even though it had been Lydia's prompt to do this meeting, it was Kira who ended up doing most of the talking, with Lydia interjecting only a few times; her head was hurting a little, but mostly it was that ticking sound that wouldn't let her focus.

After Kira finished explaining, there was a long pause as everyone took in the information. Deaton finally got up from his stool and walked around a bit.

"So your theory is that the headman would be... Sheriff Stilinski?"

Lydia shrugged. "I'm not sure if he's technically a headman. But he is an authority."

"Wait, what about my dad?" Scott asked.

"No, I think Lydia's right," Derek offered. "It's likelier that the headman would be the Sheriff. Besides, he's Stiles's dad. If anything were to happen to his dad, it would break Stiles even further, feeding the Nogitsune with more pain, making it stronger."

Lydia trembled. She hadn't even considered it that way. What if the Sheriff was in real danger from being hurt by his own son?

"And the hunter?" Kira asked.

"Could be Christ Argent, or Allison," Derek said.

Kira looked quite confused. "I'll explain later," Scott whispered to her, before turning to Derek. "I know it seems like the obvious choice, but do you really think-"

"The hunter kills the fox. So I wouldn't put it past Chris Argent at all."

"Maybe you're right, but you can't seriously consider that of Allison."

"Where _is_ Allison?" one of the twins asked. Lydia finally looked at them, hoping that it had been Ethan who asked the question.

"Um, she didn't answer any of my calls," she answered in a low voice. She checked her phone once more. Nothing. Lydia caught Derek's frown.

"Okay, so the hunter kills the fox," Kira started again. "Who is the fox?"

Deaton put an index to his lips in thought. "That is the dilemma. We do have two foxes in play. If the Nogitsune is playing the game, it could bewitch the headman for its own purposes, but if it's more powerful than we have thought, or if its vendetta is bigger than we imagine, then it could very well trick the hunter into killing the other fox, the Kitsune, possibly the only one who could defeat it."

Kira looked intensely worried, glancing at Scott and then at Lydia for support. The two of them didn't look very confident either.

"Wait, I thought you said this was just a game, like rock-paper-scissors," Scott said. "What are the odds that the Nogitsune is actually playing the game? And it if is, then how can we know that it wouldn't just pretend to be playing the game, just to trick us into believing that we can actually outsmart it?"

The twins looked at each other, thoroughly confused. Isaac and Derek both raised their eyebrows. Lydia sighed defeatedly, because Scott actually just made sense. And if he was right, then her theory had just been run aground.

"Well, that might just be the key to defeating the Nogitsune. You're starting to think like it," Deaton said with a sly smile.

"I'm not even sure I know what I just said," Scott huffed in frustration, scratching the back of his neck. "Look, maybe we should call Stiles's dad and let him in on all this. I think it's important that he knows all of this, and it's only fair. It's his son, after all. It might help find him sooner."

They all watched quietly as he pulled out his phone and called the Sheriff.

"Hello, Sheriff," Scott said after a moment, and then put the call on speaker. "Um, I thought I'd let you know that we've been-"

"_Scott? I'm sorry, I'm going to have to call you back. I'm in the middle of something," _the Sheriff's voice sounded a little breathless and tense. There was a lot of background noise, including sirens.

"Why? What happened?" Scott asked.

"_Deputy Cordova just took an arrow to the back. He's in critical condition."_

No one said anything or moved. Lydia felt a lump in her throat.

"_I've gotta go, Scott. I'll call you later, okay?"_

The call was disconnected before Scott could reply. He put his phone back into his pocket and glanced at Isaac.

"Should we...?" he started.

"Yeah, we should," Isaac said with a quick nod, jumping off the cabinet where he had been sitting. The twins got up to follow, Aiden hesitating a little.

Kira and Deaton looked at Lydia. She shook her head. This didn't mean anything. An arrow didn't automatically incriminate Allison or her dad. Although it made it pretty difficult to dismiss them.

Could Allison be possessed by a demon fox as well? Was that the reason for her weird behavior and her being M.I.A.? Was the demon fox the same one possessing Stiles, or a different one? Was it equally powerful? Was Allison merely bewitched? Or was it a trick by the Nogitsune to lead them all astray?

"Well, I'm going home, and you two should probably go too," Derek announced, opening the door.

Lydia took Kira's hand and they glanced at Deaton one last time before following Derek.

"For the record," she said, stopping at the doorway, "I didn't exclude you because I don't trust you. But while I'm 100% certain that Scott is going to do everything he can to get rid of the Nogitsune without hurting Stiles, I'm just not sure how much of an effort you're gonna make."

Derek let out a mirthless chuckle. "Believe me, you should be more worried about other people than me," he said, and Lydia frowned in confusion. "I know it seems like I don't really care about Stiles, but I kinda do. I do owe him a little bit."

Lydia watched him as he walked toward his car and drove off.

* * *

"Are you going to be okay tonight?" Kira asked once they were in her car and on the road.

Lydia shrugged. She hadn't been okay in a very long time. She could barely remember what it was like to have a normal life. When was the last time she had been merely concerned with her homework and her social social life without the extra worry of supernatural beings coming in to try to kill everyone? How long had it been since she had started being magically locating dead bodies?

"I don't know," she said very quietly. "It's been a long couple of days."

Forty eight since Lydia realized something very bad was happening to Stiles, and twenty four since anyone had last seen him. Things were about to take an even darker turn than usual, and not knowing how to help, how to use her abilities to make it all better was making her restless.

"Kira, if you jumpstarted the Nogitsune's power, do you think you could maybe... shut it down?"

Kira seemed to stiffen in her seat, her eyes fixed on the road ahead. "I don't know. I don't even know how I did it in the first place. I suppose so, but... I have no idea how to do it."

Lydia nodded slowly. "I guess we'll have to look into it."

* * *

Once Kira dropped her off, Lydia climbed up to her bedroom. She checked on her mom, who was obliviously doing the dishes in the kitchen, had some dinner, talked to her mom for a while, then went back upstairs, ready to sleep. Allison still wouldn't answer her phone. Scott didn't call or text with news, good or bad, which only made her more nervous.

She looked around her room at the piles of papers, at the labels and the pictures. She picked up a piece of blank paper and drew a diagram of the fox-fist, and the names of the people who potentially fit the roles. Stiles, Kira, Allison, Chris, Sheriff Stilinski.

That was all they had. They were betting on a silly game, hoping it would provide them with some much needed clues about what to do next.

Lydia sighed and felt like crying.

"I wish Stiles were here," she said out loud, to no one.

* * *

A couple of hours later, Lydia opened her eyes, feeling like there was something missing. She sat up and looked around. It was still really dark, but not so dark that she couldn't discern her surroundings.

She was in Stiles's room, but Stiles wasn't there.

"Stiles?" she called carefully, afraid that raising her voice would stir something unwanted. She scrambled off the bed quickly and looked at the door. It was slightly open. The space beyond it was pitch black. The ticking sound seemed to be coming from without the door.

She approached the door, and the sound of ticking became louder.

"_When is a door not a door?"_

Lydia stopped. A disembodied voice, the same one from her dream, was coming from within the room.

"_When is a door not a door?" _it asked again. Lydia looked around, then back at the door. The ticking became so loud, that it rocked her entire body, matched by the grave thumping of her heart, beating too fast in her chest, rocking her from inside.

"_When it's ajar."_

The door slammed shut, and the room went black. The ticking stopped and an explosion rocked the floor, knocking her clean off her feet, cutting off her scream.

* * *

Lydia woke up with that horrible sensation of falling, and sat up in fright. Her alarm clock had gone off, and it took her a moment to realize that she had forgotten to put her iPod on it, so what woke her up was a random radio station playing a dubstep song too loudly. Her heart was racing.

She slammed her hand down on the alarm clock to shut if off and rubbed her face tiredly. Immediately she hissed in pain and withdrew her hand. She had forgotten about the wound on her forehead.

She showered and dressed and did her best to put on makeup without hurting herself again. She packed all her research into a backpack, and the books that Kira had left behind, and headed downstairs with a tired sigh.

"Honey, are you sure you want to go to school? I can tell the doctor to give you another day off if you feel like resting a little more," her mother suggested when Lydia sat down to have breakfast. Lydia stopped mid-bite of her toast. Did she really look as awful as she felt?

"I'm fine, mom. If I don't feel well, I promise to come home, okay?"

Her mother nodded, not looking very convinced. "Okay, honey. Call me if you need me."

"Sure," Lydia said quickly, taking one last bite and one last sip of her tea, and heading out, before her mom could say anything else that would make her feel guilty.

She got to the school parking lot and looked around. Everything and everyone looked so normal, so cheerful, like they weren't all prey to the whims of supernatural creatures on a daily basis. How she longed for those days when she was equally oblivious and carefree.

She moved down one of the lanes, looking for a parking spot, when someone dashed in front of her car and then disappeared into the next lane of cars. She gave a yelp and slammed on the brakes.

Had that been Stiles?

She jumped again when there was a knock on her window. It was Scott. She gave a sigh of relief and lowered her window as he popped up the visor of his motorcycle helmet.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked. Lydia swallowed hard and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You look a little paler than usual."

"I just thought I saw..." she looked down at her hands on her lap. "Never mind. See you inside."

She pulled away before he could say anything else and found a parking space quickly, lest she would cause an accident in the lot, with her shaking hands and her tricky eyes.

* * *

_Chapter 6 coming up later today (well, considering that over here in Madrid it's already Monday, that's what I mean). _

_I'll try to post before the episode comes up, because I think it's safe to say, after watching it, I won't be able to function properly for at least a few hours._

_Good luck to us all. May the odds be ever in our favour._

_-Vale._


	6. Chapter 6

_Clearly I didn't make it before the episode. I'm sorry. My body required sleep prior to Teen Wolf, in case I collapsed with stress and trauma. I survived. I might need a little medical attention after that promo for the final episodes, tho, but generally I'm fine._

_This chapter is a little longer. I'm trying to get as much done as fast as possible. I really need to get this all on paper, or it's going to drive me crazy. At least I feel like I've passed the halfway mark._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf, but if I did, I'd probably enjoy torturing the fandom as much as Jeff Davis probably does, that little shit. (I'm kidding, I love you, Jeff, you're the best, please don't kill Stiles)._

* * *

**Found**

Chapter 6

_by HappyValentina_

Lydia entered the school, trying to breathe normal, walk normal, and look normal. She could feel people staring at her, staring at the wound on her forehead, but she ignored them.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Scott asked in English Lit, sitting in the desk next to hers. She looked momentarily perplexed. That was usually where Stiles sat.

"Yeah, I'm just a little stressed, you know," she replied, shaking her head. "Hey, you didn't call me last night. Did you talk to Allison?"

Scott nodded. "Barely. We got there, and she was kind of in a bad mood. Said we should've called her, and when we told her that we did and she just wasn't answering, she just said that her phone has been acting up and she has to take it to get repaired, that it's been shutting off on its own for days. Then she told us to leave or her dad would get mad because we interrupted their dinner. She practically slammed the door in our faces."

"Do you really think she could be, you know... possessed?" Lydia said the last word in a lower voice. Scott shook his head and shrugged.

"I don't know. I mean, she didn't seem to be having the same kind of problems that Stiles was having, right? Obviously there was that occasion in which she nearly killed you with an arrow, and that time when she almost shot a tranquilizer at Isaac, but it seemed that she was all better."

"Or maybe we just haven't been paying attention," Lydia muttered. Scott shrugged again and breathed deeply, just before the teacher came in and everyone started moving noisily to their seats.

"Isaac hasn't mentioned seeing any weird behavior in a while," Scott whispered.

"Isaac may not be a reliable source while his hormones are running rampant."

She suddenly wished she hadn't said that, seeing the mildly hurt expression that Scott got. She didn't have to worry long, though; just at that moment, Kira came in behind a tall guy and hurried to take the seat in front of Scott, and Lydia watched the dopiest grin appear on his face when the new girl greeted him quickly before turning to the front of the class.

"Did the Sheriff tell you anything useful about the arrow?" Lydia asked in a lower whisper. Scott leaned over a little.

"He's going to question Chris Argent about it today. But the Sheriff's pretty sure that they've got a good alibi."

Lydia's eyes widened.

"What?" Scott asked.

"Shouldn't someone go with him?" she said matter-of-factly. "Did we not talk about this last night?"

"He's got Deputy Parrish, I think."

"I meant someone like you. Or Derek."

"I think Derek's mainly been looking for Stiles."

Lydia's eyes widened even more. "Why?"

"Well, tracking him's proving a little challenging."

"What is he going to do?"

"Nothing. Just let us know when he finds him. _If_ he finds him."

"And then what?" Lydia asked, alarmed.

Scott shrugged yet again. "I don't know. Hopefully restrain him long enough for us to find a way to get that thing out of him."

Lydia was about to ask how they were supposed to do that, but she got exasperated and turned to the front of the class. While they were here attending class, pretending like nothing was going on, Stiles was somewhere out there with no apparent control over his actions, and people were getting shot with arrows.

She got a crick in her neck as she looked down at her notebook. When she turned her head sideways to crack her bones lightly, she heard something else. She heard the ticking again.

She could hear it, growing louder, even as the teacher spoke in a clear voice, and people tapped their foot or drummed their fingers on their desks or tapped their pens on their books. She shut her eyes, wishing it would go away. It was like the buzzing of flies all over again. She knew it meant something, but she was so wired and exhausted that she really wished she wouldn't have to think about it. More importantly, she was afraid of what she could find out.

"In the parking lot, I thought I saw him," she whispered to Scott. He stared distractedly at the teacher.

"Who, Derek?"

"Stiles."

Scott did a double-take. "You—what? Are you sure? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I probably didn't," she retorted. "I probably just imagined it. I've thinking a lot about him- about everything," she corrected herself, trying not to blush. "I thought maybe it was just one of those occasions when I just start seeing things. You know, constantly losing my mind a little bit more."

"Lydia, I think we have all finally come to the conclusion that whenever you seem to be losing your mind, you're actually onto something important."

"Well, what do you want to do?"

Scott sat back with a sigh and thought for a moment. "I'll text Isaac to meet me in the parking lot. Maybe we can verify if he was here. Catch his scent or something."

A few minutes passed, then he nodded at Lydia and asked the teacher for permission to go to the bathroom. Kira watched him go, and glanced back at Lydia questioningly.

Lydia avoided her eyes and started rubbing her temples, carefully avoiding her injury. The ticking was getting decidedly louder. It was enough to give her a headache.

"Miss Martin."

Lydia snapped out of it suddenly and looked up. The teacher was staring at her sternly, clearly having called Lydia several times already to no avail. Lydia bit her lip and sat up straighter.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Are you feeling okay? Do you need to go to the nurse's office?"

Everyone was suddenly staring at her, and she felt a cold sweat in the back of her neck. She shook her head. "I'm fine," she said. Kira kept looking at her while everyone turned their attention back to the teacher as she walked back to the front of the classroom.

"I'm fine," she mouthed to Kira, even if the girl didn't look at all convinced.

* * *

Scott didn't return before the end of class, which put Lydia more on edge. She and Kira collected his bag when the bell rang, and Kira said she'd give it to him. Lydia practically dashed out of English Lit; she didn't mean to avoid Kira, she just really needed to go to a quiet place for a bit, and hopefully the History classroom would still be deserted.

She yanked the door open and nearly jumped out of her skin at the sight of a figure standing in front of her.

"Jesus! Aiden!" Lydia shouted angrily. He held up his hands defensively.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

"Well you did. And now my headache's worse. Would you please leave? You and I don't have History together," she grumbled, moving past him.

"Wait, Lydia. Are you seriously just going to ignore me?"

"Aiden, I don't have time for this," Lydia said, dropping her things down onto her usual desk. She then headed to the window and peered outside; it was a pretty good view of the parking lot, and there weren't many people in it at the moment; but there was no sign of Scott or Isaac, and definitively no sign of Stiles.

"I'm just worried about you, okay?"

"Yeah, so worried that you didn't even visit me at the hospital," Lydia grumbled sarcastically.

"You seem to have forgotten who put you in the hospital in the first place," Aiden retorted, standing behind her.

She spun on her heel and nearly slapped him with all her strength, but she contained herself.

"That was not Stiles and you know it."

"Exactly. That boy who framed your drawing is not there anymore. What do you plan to do, Lydia? Do you think that thing possessing him will just leave him alone? It's not going to end well."

She glared at him. "I'm sorry, is this speech of yours supposed to be comforting?"

"I just don't want you to get your hopes up."

"Thank you very much, but I can take care of myself," she sneered, turning back to the window.

"If you come across him, he's just going to attack you again. He might even kill you this time."

Lydia sighed and looked at him very seriously.

"Aiden, I know you think you care about me, but you don't. Not really. And I'm done pretending to care about you too."

Aiden opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out, and Lydia just continued.

"You're just afraid of getting left behind. You have yet to get back in Scott's good graces, and Isaac is his Beta now. And your brother is probably getting back together with his ex-boyfriend. That leaves you all by yourself. You're just the guy desperately trying to hold on to so-called friends. Just admit it, the only reason you wanted to be with me was to get closer to Scott and to hold some kind of status."

Again, Aiden stayed silent.

"You're turning out to be just like Jackson, and I don't want another Jackson in my life."

"I thought you said you loved Jackson," Aiden spoke up, looking sour and uncomfortable.

Lydia nodded sadly. "For all the wrong reasons. I'm really sorry, but I don't want to be with you anymore, even if it means being by myself. I have made that mistake before. Not again."

The door opened just then, and Kira walked in but immediately stopped on her tracks. Lydia glanced at her, grateful for the interruption.

"Look, right now I have to do everything I can to save a person for whom I actually care," she added. "He'd do the same thing for me."

Aiden stared at her for the longest time, his expression completely neutral. Lydia swallowed the lump in her throat and breathed as calmly as she could.

He finally nodded in acceptance. "Be careful," he said as he turned to leave, passing Kira on his way out. Lydia let out a long stream of air, like a weight had been lifted off her, and plopped down into her seat. Kira walked over, watching her carefully.

"Are you okay?" she asked gently. Lydia nodded.

"Yeah. I've been trying to do that for a while, and I finally did it." She leaned back on her chair. "Did you find Scott?"

Kira shook her head and looked around as students started to file in, followed by her father. Mr. Yukimura waved to her and Lydia, and Kira turned a little red with mortification. Lydia smiled sympathetically, knowing very well how uncomfortable it was to attend class taught by a parent.

Scott and Isaac appeared a moment later, trailing in behind a couple of students, and took their seats. They looked at the girls and shook their heads. Lydia sighed again. No sign of Stiles.

"Have you heard from Derek? Or the Sheriff?" Lydia asked, squeezing the bridge of her nose. Her head was starting to hurt.

"Nope, nothing yet," Scott responded, looking at his phone and then at Lydia. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"It's that noise," she whispered, shutting her eyes. "It's getting on my nerves."

"You look a little pale," Kira said.

"And sick," Isaac added.

"I'm-" she was going to say that she was fine, but she was obviously not. "Excuse me for a second," she breathed, standing up quickly and heading for the door. Kira followed her, saying something to her dad as Lydia burst through the door and into the hallway. She started stumbling toward the nearest bathroom, holding on to the wall of lockers for safety, because she was starting to breathe harder, and getting dizzy, and she couldn't hear anything else and if felt like she was underwater again.

"Lydia?" Kira called after, her voice muffled, trying to catch up, but Lydia had sprinted into the bathroom. She lost her grip on the wall and suddenly her legs gave out and she collapsed on the floor, like a rag doll.

* * *

"Lydia? Lydia..."

Lydia opened her eyes carefully, wincing at the fluorescent light. She was staring directly at the ceiling of the bathroom, feeling the cool tiles against her back. She would have been more disgusted about being on the floor of the school bathroom, if it weren't because she was so glad everything had stopped spinning and the noise wasn't deafening anymore.

"Allison?" Lydia said, looking to the side to see her friend's face above her.

"Here, have some water," Allison said. She was cradling Lydia's head on her lap, holding out a water bottle for her. Kira was next to her.

Lydia tried to sit up first, and Allison and Kira helped her.

"What happened?" she asked, grabbing the bottle.

"You fainted. It was so scary," Kira said.

"You might have bumped your head, but don't worry, it wasn't as hard as the last time," Allison said, handing her a couple of paper towels to dry her sweat. Lydia realized she was covered in cold sweat. She felt sticky and clammy.

"Well it still hurts like a bitch," Lydia replied.

"What happened?" Allison asked. Lydia settled with her back against the wall and breathed deeply several times.

"I've been going crazy all day with a ticking clock noise, I've been hearing it for days."

"A ticking? Why didn't you tell me?" Allison asked, concerned. Lydia gave her a sideways glance.

"I would have," she started icily, "but you haven't been answering your phone."

"I already told Scott and Isaac, my phone has been a bitch lately. I couldn't make phone calls myself," Allison replied in an annoyed tone.

"Whatever. I need to get out of here, the smell of detergent is making me queasy."

The two girls helps Lydia up to her feet, and Lydia tried really hard not to sway.

"Maybe I should take you to the nurse's office," Allison said once they were out in the hallway, and Lydia nodded. Maybe they could give her something for the pounding headache, or at least something to revive her a little more.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Kira asked. Allison smiled and shook her head.

"Thanks, but I can manage. Besides, it's right here," she said, gesturing to the door across the hallway. "You should go back to class and tell the professor that Lydia is indisposed."

Kira patted Lydia on the shoulder and headed back to History, while she held on to Allison's arms with all her might. Allison led her into the nurse's office and helped her up into the examination bed.

"The nurse must be out a moment, she should be back soon," Allison said, glancing around. Lydia lowered herself onto the bed and sighed deeply. At least this room was cooler.

"Here, smell this, it might help you with the dizziness," Allison said, handing her a moist cotton wad. Lydia took it and held in in her clammy hand.

"I'm sorry for getting angry at you," she began. "It's just that, with everything that has happened, I can't help it if I'm on edge. Things start getting out of our control, and next thing you know, Stiles has been missing for two days, and no one knows what to do about it."

"Yeah, I totally get it."

"And I was calling you like crazy, and when you didn't answer, I got so worried. We all did."

"You don't have to worry about me, Lydia. I can take care of myself. What did you think was going to happen to me?" Allison said, running a hand through Lydia's hair in a soothing manner. Lydia sat up.

"Allison, remember when you were having hallucinations about your aunt, and you nearly shot me with an arrow?"

Allison stopped and looked at her pointedly.

"Why are you bringing that up?"

"I just wondered, did the hallucinations stop? Or have you just stopped mentioning them?"

Allison looked annoyed again. "I'm not having them as often as before, if that makes you feel better."

"So you still have them?"

Allison sighed. "They don't bother me anymore."

"But have you found out what they mean? If they mean anything at all?"

"What are you trying to get at, Lydia?"

"It just seems suddenly very curious to me that the night of Danny's party, when we were all ambushed by the Oni, the only one who didn't get checked or marked was you."

"That's not curious," Allison sneered. "There is nothing really supernatural about me, so why would they check me?"

"There was nothing really supernatural about Stiles, either, and look where that's gotten him," Lydia said matter-of-factly. Allison crossed her arms.

"Are you accusing me of something, Lydia?"

Lydia thought for a moment. She thought about the theory of the fox-fist, about the attack on Deputy Cordova with an arrow, but mostly she thought about Stiles. She looked at her best friend in the eye and tried to sense anything different about her, about her attitude. She finally sighed.

"No. But you're my friend, and I'm worried about you."

Allison sighed as well, running her hands through her hair. "I'm worried about you right now. The stress of everything is getting to you, and you're hearing stuff. You're becoming irritated."

"I'm not irritated. I just really wish I could do something."

"What you should do is rest. Smell that," Allison said, pointing to the cotton wad still in Lydia's hand. "Smell it, it will make you feel better."

Lydia obeyed. But as soon as she put the cotton wad close to her nose, she knew that it wasn't alcohol she was smelling. It was definitively ether.

"What the-" she started saying, when Allison came at her with a syringe and stabbed her leg, injecting something quickly into her. Lydia screamed in surprise just before Allison put a hand over her mouth and forced her to lie down.

"Shh, just rest," she said, looking directly into Lydia's eyes. There was that void again. Lydia's eyes filled with tears.

She could feel the effects of the sedative start working instantaneously. From where she lay on the table, she could see a hand sticking out from underneath the curtain where the nurse's desk was located. The nurse was on the floor on the other side, unconscious or dead. Had Allison done this?

"Don't worry, you're my best friend. I wouldn't let anything happen to you," Allison said, dropping the syringe. Lydia started trembling violently.

"Allison, no..." she said weakly as Allison closed the door behind her, leaving Lydia to slowly sink into oblivion.

* * *

_Oh god, getting closer and closer..._

_See? I addressed the issue of Allison. Don't worry, I still haven't covered all of it. That's tomorrow._

_Hope you enjoy it. Hope you can all sleep tonight. I know I probably won't._

_-Vale._


	7. Chapter 7

_So, so, soooooo sorry for the major delay! I have a good excuse: a group of friends and I went for a couple of days to the Carnivale di Venezia. It was absolutely amazing! I wish I could have stayed longer, but since I've been sick, I couldn't take any days off work, so I only went for the weekend. If any of you ever get the chance, go! But yeah, I basically got back on Sunday night, went to work on Monday, watched Teen Wolf that night, and I've been writing since._

_I loved The Fox and The Wolf, even if it had barely any Stiles and no Lydia at all. I loved the scenes of the past, I think Teen Wolf is starting to show a lot of maturity. It's great. And isn't Arden Cho so incredibly beautiful? That retro look is absolutely stunning on her._

_Okay, back to business. Since I didn't manage to finish this fic in the record time that I attempted, I'm making a few changes along the way, adapting some of the things that are revealed in the show. It doesn't really affect the outcome. Hopefully I will be able to finish by this weekend. Otherwise I'm going to go completely insane._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf, but if I did, I think I would have Kira in 1940's attire the whole way, which would be so weird but so so pretty._

* * *

**Found**

Chapter 7

_by HappyValentina_

Lydia opened her eyes tentatively to find that she was not lying down anymore, but standing up, in a very dark and constricted place. There was a little vent in front of her, but she was too short to see out of it. It was a locker. She was inside a locker. She breathed quickly, unable to contain her sudden panic. There was light coming in through the vent, and she couldn't hear anything outside.

She put her hands in front of her and tried to push the door open. It didn't budge. She pushed harder. She started banging against it, to see if it was stuck. There was a noise outside, and she froze.

A grave voice was speaking, in a hoarse whisper. Lydia held her breath.

"_Lydia,"_ said the heavily accented voice. _"Lydia... dokoni ite mo detekuru..."_

Lydia gulped, surely too loudly and tried to stand on tiptoe, to see out the vent. She couldn't see anything or anyone, but she could hear them getting closer. The voice spoke again, not in Japanese. In English, but with the same terrifying slow dragging of words.

"_Come out, Lydia... come out, come out, wherever you are."_

Lydia was trembling, holding a hand over her mouth to keep any sound from coming out of it involuntarily. She was cold, and she was paralyzed with fear. The heavy footsteps got closer.

"I can hear you..." the voice said, sounding just outside the door. Lydia backed away, but she was already up against the very back of the locker. She had nowhere to go.

"I can feel you..."

She tried to think. It's just a dream, it's just a dream. But it felt very real.

"Your time is running out..." the voice said. As if on cue, she heard the ticking clock again. It was so loud that it reverberated on the metal walls of the locker.

"_There you are."_

The door was yanked open, and a heavily bandaged face appeared in front of her. She gasped and screamed, her banshee screech rattling the metal.

* * *

She screamed and sat up and suddenly was aware of arms trying to hold her in place, to shake her awake. She blinked in surprise at Sheriff Stilinski.

"Calm down, you're okay," he said.

Lydia looked around, alarmed. Allison was definitively gone, and the nurse? Where was the nurse and what happened to her?

She started breathing a little slower, even if her head wasn't all that cleared up. She was still partially under the effects of the sedative that Allison had administered. It took her a moment to realize that the noise still bothering her was the sound of the fire alarm.

"What happened? Why are you here?" she asked desperately, shouting over the noise.

"We received a call about a bomb in the school. The building's being evacuated. Scott said that you hadn't come back to class, and Kira said that Allison took you to the nurse's office because you weren't feeling well."

Lydia almost started crying. "It's Allison!" she said, grabbing the Sheriff's arm. "Allison is the one who did this to me. She's not herself."

"I believe you. The nurse was sedated as well, and they just took her outside," the Sheriff said. "Come on. We have to get out of here." He didn't even wait for her to try to stand up, and instead picked her up into his arms and carried her out.

* * *

"All clear, Sheriff!" Deputy Parrish shouted as Sheriff Stilinski came out of the building carrying Lydia. Lydia winced at the brightness outside. The sun's position indicated that it was almost noon, so Lydia had practically been sedated all morning.

The Sheriff set her down when they were at the safest distance, in the parking lot. Scott and Isaac ran up to them.

"The bomb is in the choir room," the Sheriff said in a low voice. "Deputy Parrish is going to check it out and see if he can disarm it. We're waiting for the ATF to arrive. I've gotta be on top of this, so keep an eye on her. She was sedated."

He ran back toward the school front, and Lydia sat against the nearest car hood, which was, coincidentally, Kira's. She swayed in place.

"Sedated you? Why did you get sedated?" Isaac asked.

"Where's Kira?" Lydia asked, ignoring him.

"I can't find her. I hope she got out. When the alarm went off, she went off to find her dad," Scott said.

"Where is Mr. Yukimura?"

"Haven't seen him."

"And where's Allison?"

"We thought she was with you."

Lydia felt nauseated.

"She was, for a moment. Then she sedated me. To keep me out of her way," Lydia whispered, tears springing to her eyes.

"What?"

"What?"

Lydia rubbed her eyes and shook her head. "It was her, guys. She's not herself either. We have to do something. She's the one who put the bomb in the school, I know it."

Isaac and Scott exchanged looks.

"Are you sure?" Isaac asked.

"Am I sure that she stuck a needle in my leg and drugged me? Am I sure that she did the same thing to the nurse? I know I may seem out of it a lot of the time, but believe me, I wouldn't make stuff like this up. We have to find her."

"But why would she do that?"

"I don't know! Why did Stiles run off? Why has he been having hallucinations and nightmares? Why has Allison been acting so strange? I have no idea! But we have to help them before they hurt someone! Now find her!"

"She's not here! We already looked for her!" Isaac shouted back.

"I don't understand. Why would she do this?" Isaac asked.

"You say it like she's the one who planned it. It's the Nogitsune! It's not her," Scott said, looking around nervously. "Maybe she is the hunter after all, and it has bewitched her. Or maybe it can possess more that one person at a time, or maybe there's more than one Nogitsune!"

Lydia nodded. "I think she's bewitched. I don't think she was possessed, she didn't feel the same way that Stiles did when I met him in the forest."

"So she's the hunter, and she's doing the Nogitsune's dirty work? Killing off everybody?"

Lydia shook her head. "I'm not sure."

Scott scratched his head. "The Nogitsune feeds off pain and grief and chaos, so by causing an explosion in a school, I think it would produce enough of all those things to feed itself, right?"

Again, Lydia was shaking her head. "Not if it doesn't work, not if we're all evacuated in time. Someone called in and alerted the Sheriff about the bomb. They know where it is. The Nogitsune would be clever enough to not have the bomb discovered if it didn't want it to be discovered."

"What is it that Deaton said? The key to defeating it at its own game is to think like it, right?" Scott said. "Okay, so if I were the Nogitsune, and I were playing the game, why would I need the hunter to set a bomb that will not kill anyone?"

Lydia glanced around at the crowd. She saw the students and the teachers all gathered in the parking lot, staring at the building. She saw the police officers standing by. She saw her mom and Mr. Yukimura coming toward them. Her mom looked relieved. Mr. Yukimura seemed to be on the verge of a breakdown.

She turned toward the building, and saw Sheriff Stilinski talking on his radio, staring intently at the main double doors that led into the hallway.

"Because it's the perfect distraction," Lydia said as soon as it dawned on her.

"What?" Isaac asked. Lydia closed her eyes. She shut her eyes and she heard it again. The ticking clock. It was loud, but it seemed to be growing dimmer, as if it were getting further and further away. And she knew what was going on.

"Honey, thank god! I was so worried!" Lydia's mom was suddenly in front of her, pulling her into a hug and squeezing her too tightly. Lydia pulled back and looked at Mr. Yukimura.

"Scott, have you seen my daughter?" he asked. Before Scott could reply, Lydia grabbed him and Isaac and pulled them along, running toward Sheriff Stilinski. A couple of officers stopped them in their tracks and told them to stay behind the barrier.

"No, you don't understand. Sheriff! SHERIFF!" she shouted desperately over the shoulder of one of them. Sheriff Stilinski caught sight of her and ran over.

"It's okay, I'll handle this," he said to the two officers, and pulled the three teenagers aside, just beyond the barrier. "This better be important. I'm in the middle of a very delicate operation."

"Sheriff, that bomb is just a distraction."

He looked perplexed and Lydia begged him with her eyes to believe everything she was about to say.

"I know this is a risky thing to do, but we have to forget about the bomb and try to find Allison. I have every reason to believe that she is being controlled by the Nogitsune. And if she is, then that bomb that she planted in the choir room was only to distract us while she goes and does something else."

"Like what?"

"Like kill Kira."

Sheriff Stilinski rubbed his neck nervously and looked at the two boys over Lydia's head. "Is Kira missing?"

"I haven't seen her since we got evacuated," Scott said, looking nervous as well. "Her dad was looking for her too."

"We haven't seen Allison either," Isaac declared.

The Sheriff turned his back to them, sighed and faced them again.

"Lydia, are you sure about this?"

Lydia nodded vigorously. "Sheriff, I know if I tell you that I have a very powerful feeling about it, then you probably won't believe me. But there is another bomb, and Allison has it, and she has Kira, and if we don't find them now, then my best friend is going to be responsible for the death of a person. And the Nogitsune will be one step closer to achieving whatever it is that it's scheming."

"Another bomb?" Scott asked.

"That ticking noise I've been hearing since yesterday? I'm pretty sure that's what it is. But it's not coming from the choir room, it's coming from somewhere else."

The Sheriff sighed again. "And when you say the Nogitsune, do you mean Stiles?"

Lydia nodded.

"Do you think if we find Allison, we might find Stiles as well?"

Lydia shrugged. "Maybe. I hope."

The three men exchanged glances. The Sheriff's walkie-talkie crackled to life.

"_Sheriff?"_

Sheriff Stilinski help it up to his mouth. "Yeah, Parrish? Did you find it?"

"_I did, sir, and I can confirm, it is not a bomb."_

Lydia and the Sheriff stared at each other.

"_It's just a box, it had a clock inside, but it's broken. There's nothing here."_

Before Parrish could finish, the Sheriff had grabbed Lydia by the shoulders and gestured for Scott and Isaac to follow them, and he started barking into the walkie-talkie.

"Parrish, I need you to get out of there and follow me as soon as I give you a location. I want all units with me. The bomb is not in the school building, it's on the move. We are headed to that location."

Lydia jogged next to the Sheriff, as he hurried them toward his patrol car.

"Lydia, lead the way," he told her as soon as they were all inside and buckled up.

* * *

They didn't have to go very far. Sooner than expected, Lydia spotted Allison's car on the side of the road, right where a trail started into the forest. Why did it always have to be _in_ the forest?

The four of them got out of the car. Sheriff Stilinski radioed their location in a low voice, pulled out his gun and went ahead of the three of them.

"They're both here," Scott whispered, sniffing the air. "Kira is terrified."

"And Allison doesn't quite smell like Allison," Isaac said in an equally soft voice. "Wait, what are we going to do? What's the plan?"

"Plan? We don't have time for a plan. Kira's going to die."

"But how do we intend to stop Allison? By shooting her?"

"I guess we'll have to figure it out when we get there."

"Lydia?" the Sheriff called. Lydia was just behind him, crouching behind his back. She had no idea if she was being stealthy enough, because she couldn't hear anything over the sound of the ticking clock anymore. It had gotten incredibly loud; which could only mean they were getting closer.

"Keep going."

"We'll have to think of something."

They walked for a few more minutes, following the trail, getting further and further into the forest, and every sound they heard made them jump.

"For Christ's sake, guys! You're werewolves!" Lydia said, hissing with pain. She was starting to get a splitting headache.

"Lydia, how much longer before we find them? Are we getting closer?" the Sheriff asked over his shoulder.

"Yep, yep, I can feel it," Lydia said through gritted teeth.

"Are you okay?"

"Not at all."

"Maybe you should get back to the car."

Lydia didn't reply, just tried to keep her eyes open. It was noon, so the light filtering through the tops of trees was quite bright, but the forest in that part was so dense that she was afraid of something or someone popping up from behind any tree and taking them out. Namely Allison. Or Stiles.

"Stop," she gasped.

"What?"

"I hear something."

Scott and Isaac looked around warily. "I don't hear anything," they said almost in unison.

"It's..." she started, grabbing the Sheriff's jacket and leading him to the right, off the trail. It wasn't even ten paces, when they spotted a figure standing nearby. Lydia nearly squeaked.

"Hold it right there!" Sheriff Stilinski shouted, holding his gun up with both hands and pointing at the figure. Lydia did his best to look at the person, to see who it was, but it was too dark to tell.

"Turn around slowly with your hands on your head," the Sheriff said. The figure did, painstakingly slow, and Lydia peeked around the Sheriff's arm, squinting through the tree trunks.

"Kira?" she said, coming out from behind the Sheriff, who didn't manage to pull her back in time. Lydia approached very slowly. Kira was crying, and trembling.

"Kira!" Scott exclaimed as well, coming up behind Lydia. "Are you okay?"

"Oh my god," Lydia muttered. Kira didn't respond, she only looked down. She had something in her hands. A box. A ticking box. And she was doing her best not to shake so much while holding it.

"Kira, what is that?" Scott asked.

"What does it look like it is, Scott?" a voice called from the left. It was Allison. They looked around but they couldn't spot her. It almost sounded like a disembodied voice.

"Allison, I need you to come out. We're not going to hurt you," the Sheriff called, but he never lowered his gun.

It seemed like forever before Lydia saw Allison emerge from behind a group of trees, wielding her bow and pointing an arrow in their direction. There was a strange glow in her eyes, like a yellowish glaze. Lydia held her breath.

"I didn't think you were," Allison said. She didn't sound like herself either; her voice was monotone, even as she seemed to smile.

"Allison, put the bow down. This isn't you, this is something telling you to do this," Lydia said in a hurried voice. Allison looked at her, turning the bow ever so slightly in her direction.

"Oh you're up and about already?" she said, voice drone-like. "I guess you're not just the poor little damsel in distress anymore, are you? Lying helplessly on a bed somewhere, waiting for her knight to come wake her up with a kiss." The words were delivered in such a taunting manner, that Lydia had to wonder where it was all coming from. "Where is your knight now, princess?"

"Allison. Put. The bow. Down." Sheriff Stilinski said, holding the gun higher, aiming right at Allison, but she didn't even look at him. Her eyes narrowed and she pulled the string a little more, tensing it against her lips, aiming.

"ALLISON!" Scott yelled, just starting to transform. His eyes glowed red.

"Allison, what are you doing?" Isaac said, breathing hard, looking like he was trying very hard to contain himself.

"I'm merely bringing justice once and for all," Allison said nonchalantly. "This is only the beginning." She glanced back at Kira, who was still trembling and crying. "You will have to pay for her mistake."

Lydia gasped when she felt someone rush past her and run forward. It was Scott. He growled, leapt and rolled out of the way just in time, as Allison released the arrow in his direction. They glanced at it, where it had stuck deep into a tree trunk, and turned just in time to see Allison reload and shoot another arrow at Isaac, who had sprung forward as well. He caught it midair and turned disbelieving toward Allison again, just as she was pointing another arrow right at Lydia again.

"Dodge this, princess," Allison said in a weird, disembodied voice, as she expertly released the arrow.

* * *

_Ahh! A cliffhanger? What are you doing, Valentina!? I'm sorry, but fear not! I'm almost done with the next chapter._

_I'm still recovering from that promo for next episode, and that clip. I need medical help._

_-Vale._


	8. Chapter 8

_What is up with the Doc Manager in this thing? I don't like the changes they have made, it takes me twice as much to upload and edit a document now. Do something about that, ._

_Okay, I'm really trying to get as much done for this story before the next episode. But at this rate I doubt I'll manage it. I still have about four more chapters to go, and I'm getting ridiculously behind with it. So… sorry. I'll try my best, though._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf, but if I did, there would always be plenty of Stiles and Lydia in every episode. Really, Jeff Davis? Really? Are you freaking kidding me?_

* * *

**Found**

Chapter 8

_by HappyValentina_

Something hit Allison at the same time that she released the arrow, tossing her backward onto the ground. Lydia didn't have time to see what had happened. A figure had jumped in front of her and caught the arrow that had been flying straight toward her head. Lydia let out a whimper.

"Oh my god," she whispered, her legs feeling like jelly. Derek huffed, getting up and dropping the arrow to the ground.

"Are you okay?" he asked briefly. Lydia nodded. They all looked at Allison, lying unconscious on the ground.

"What? No!" Isaac shouted, running toward her. He lifted her up into his arms.

Lydia, Scott and Derek looked at the Sheriff as he held his gun up.

"I didn't shoot," he said, shaking his head, perplexed.

"I did."

Standing a few feet behind the Sheriff, Chris Argent lowered his gun. Next to him, Deaton put a hand on his shoulder.

"Nice shot," he said, moving forward past the others.

"What did you do?" Isaac asked angrily.

"You just shot your own daughter?" Derek asked, eyes wide.

"I had to," Chris replied with a hardened expression. Lydia looked at him in disbelief, but then she glanced at the gun in his hand and realized it wasn't a fire weapon. It was a dart gun.

"He shot her with a dart containing a dose of Letharia Vulpina," Deaton explaining, approaching him and Allison. He carefully removed the dark that had gotten stuck on Allison's neck. "It's a fungus, known commonly as the wolf lichen, is widely used as a poison for wolves and foxes. It's not dangerous to humans, but considering it has taken effect on Allison, I think it's safe to say that she was under the Nogitsune's control. Now it won't be able to touch her at all. At least not until the poison has left her body completely."

"So she's going to be okay?" Isaac asked.

"Yes."

"I should have known sooner that something was off with her. But I couldn't know for sure yet," Chris explained, walking closer. "I told Deaton about it, and this is what he came up with. And if anyone was going to shoot my daughter, I suppose it had to be me," he added heavily, crouching next to Allison.

"The poison doesn't kill the Nogitsune, but it does disable it for a while," Deaton said. "Allison was merely bewitched, so it was even more effective than I expected."

"Sheriff! What do we do about this?" Scott said urgently, poiting to Kira. Kira seemed calmer now, but she was still shaking a little as she looked carefully at the box in her hands.

"She said if I try to put it down, it will blow up," Kira said, starting to cry again. The Sheriff pulled out his walkie-talkie and shouted for Deputy Parrish to get there as soon as possible, instructing him on how to find them.

"Argent, Isaac, get Allison out of here."

Dutifully, Chris helped lift Allison's prone body onto Isaac's arms, and the two of them set off through the woods back toward the road.

"Wait, how are you going to explain this to him? To anyone back at the station?" Scott asked. The Sheriff pressed his lips tightly and exhaled.

"Let me worry about that," he simply said and pointed to Scott, Derek and Deaton. "Help me get her to sit on the floor so that she doesn't get so tired."

The four of them made a sort of lever to lower Kira as carefully as they could into a sitting position on the ground without her having to move much. Even if it was chilly, they were all starting to sweat profusely with the stress.

"Could Allison have put together a real, lethal bomb?" Scott asked. Deaton shrugged.

"With the Nogitsune's guidance, I wouldn't doubt it."

"But it's a ticking bomb. How come it hasn't blown up on us yet?" Lydia said. The ticking she had been hearing was really driving her crazy now; standing next to the bomb itself, it was louder than ever before.

"Well, personally I'm hoping that it's still got enough time left for Parrish to come disarm it," Sheriff Stilinski said. "I think you kids better leave too, I don't want to have to explain why you were in close proximity of a ticking bomb as well. Especially you, Derek," he added. Lydia knew she should obey, but she knew very well that Scott wouldn't obey, that he would stay with Kira, and she couldn't bring herself to leave either. Besides, she sensed what the Sheriff was implying, but he didn't want to say it in so many words: in case the bomb did explode, it was better if only one kid was killed, instead of three. But he wouldn't say that in front of Kira.

"Let me just have a look at it while we wait," Lydia said finally, kneeling next to Kira. The girl flinched ever so slightly, to get the box out of Lydia's reach, while the four men tried to stop them both from moving.

"Sheriff, we're running out of time. It might go off before Deputy Parrish gets here," Lydia said very seriously. "I think I know what to do, I once read a book on explosive devices, I might be able to disarm the timer at least."

"You_ once read a book_?" Sheriff Stilinski asked in utter disbelief. Lydia tried to gather her wits as best as she could before leaning over the box in Kira's hands, and holding her hands as steady as possible over the lid.

"Whatever you do, don't move," she said.

Kira, Scott, Derek, Sheriff Stilinski and Deaton all sat completely still, holding their breaths, as Lydia carefully slid a finger under the lid and pulled it up slowly. The box was now open. They could all see the mechanism of the bomb. It was a real bomb. And there was a timer. It was counting down from five minutes and twenty three seconds.

"Jesus Christ..." Sheriff Stilinski murmured. Kira let out a shaky breath, and Scott gulped audibly.

Lydia analyzed the contents of the box. The mechanism appeared to be quite simple, so she was sure she could figure out how to do it.

She spent an excruciating minute contemplating it, eyebrows knitted together, and she was sure Kira and the three men were about to faint with nerves. After a minute, she was quite certain what to do.

"Okay, Scott, I need one of your wolf claws."

"You—what?"

Lydia took a deep breath. "Your claws. I need you to cut the red wire with one of your claws."

"No, no, no! Why me?" he exclaimed, getting extremely worked up. She sighed.

"Does it look like I have a pair of wire cutters on me? Just do it. I know it's the right wire. Do it."

Scott had trouble getting his claws out, and his hands were shaking horribly.

"Do you want me to do it?" Derek asked nonchalantly. Scott finally managed it and shook his head.

"Make sure to only cut the red wire. Scott, take a deep breath and do it. It's going to work. I just know it," Lydia said, as soothingly and as confident as she could. Scott swallowed and put his index finger into the box, catching the thin red wire with the razor-sharp werewolf claw. It took him a moment to cut it, for fear of doing it too fast and knocking the box over. The ticking stopped. The timer inside the box stopped at 56 seconds.

Everyone let out the loudest sigh of relief.

"That was cutting it real close," Derek muttered.

"Is that it? Really?" Kira asked in a small voice.

"Well, it's not counting down anymore, but if you drop it, it will probably still go off. So... don't move," Lydia said. "We'll just wait for Deputy Parrish, and he can disarm it completely. Hopefully."

Sheriff Stilinski nodded and patted Lydia's shoulder. "Good job, though. That was amazing." He patted Scott as well. "And you, thanks for not freaking out."

"I nearly lost it. That was the most nerve-wrecking thing I've ever done," Scott said in an uneven voice.

Derek left almost immediately, once he was sure that they had the situation under control. Lydia watched him go for a moment, wishing she had remembered to thank him for saving her life.

Soon enough, Deputy Parrish showed up, carrying his equipment. Deaton led Scott and Lydia away while Parrish worked on the bomb. Lydia suddenly wasn't paying attention.

So the Nogitsune had been playing the game, or so it seemed. It bewitched Allison in order to get rid of the fox, who was Kira. So now that they had thwarted it, what was going to happen next? Was Kira still in danger? And could the headman then surely be Sheriff Stilinski? If it was, then Lydia had almost been responsible for his demise as well, if the bomb had gone off. After all, she had been the one to lead him to it.

"You're not thinking like the fox as much as you should," she said under her breath.

"What did you say?" Deaton asked. She shook her head.

"Nothing. Just waiting for this day to be over," she said.

Parrish finally took the box off of Kira's hands and declared that his job was done. He was sweating profusely, but he dropped several parts of the bomb into his case, and smiled confidently. Kira threw her arms around his neck in gratitude, and the others congratulated him and thanked him. Lydia merely looked on, still too distracted to say anything.

* * *

Parrish didn't ask too many questions, but presumably he was waiting to be back at the station to bombard the Sheriff. Scott collected Allison's arrows and brought them along as the Sheriff drove them to the hospital.

It was a while before they knew anything about Allison. Her dad was with the doctor and Scott's mom. Lydia thought about asking Melissa for something for her headache.

She had the presence of mind to call her mom and let her know she was fine, that everything had been sorted out, and that she would meet her at home.

Melissa eventually came out to let them know that Allison would be okay.

"She doesn't seem to remember much," she pointed out nervously. "Is she... you know... like Stiles...?"

Deaton shook his head. "She was merely under the Nogitsune's control. It was like being under a spell."

Melissa nodded in understanding, although she didn't look all too relieved. "Well, she's resting now. I'm sure you'll be able to see her soon, though. Unless her father says otherwise."

They waited for an hour. The Sheriff spoke with Chris Argent and Deaton extensively. Melissa examined Kira in the meantime, but she was perfect considering the circumstances. Kira claimed that Allison had barely touched her, instead persuading her with her bow and arrow and a ticking box in her hands.

Isaac paced restlessly around the hallway. Lydia could see out of the corner of her eye that Scott was really trying to contain himself, but if she had been him, she would've pinned Isaac down just to keep him from moving so much.

"What do we do now?" Scott asked in a low voice. Lydia shrugged.

"I don't know. If she doesn't remember things, then... I don't think she can tell us anything useful."

Saying that out loud almost made her cry. For a brief moment she had hoped that Allison would be able to recall something, anything. Seeing Stiles. Knowing where he was. Speaking with him.

Finally, Chris came over to the kids. The four of them got up.

"She wants to talk to Lydia first," he said. Lydia stepped forward, and he cut her off for a moment. "Please, just... just don't..."

She nodded. "I know." She glanced back at her friends for a moment before heading toward room 115.

Allison sat up quickly when Lydia entered, still looking dazed. Her face was a little paler than usual. Lydia walked over to her bedside and looked her over. At least she was unharmed. She smiled at her friend in what she hoped was a comforting manner. Allison started smiling back, but her face suddenly scrunched up in pain, and large tears fell down her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry, Lydia," she mumbled tearfully. Lydia shook her head vigorously.

"No, no! It's okay! We're fine! Don't cry!"

"I can't believe I let this happen."

"Don't say it like that. You had no control."

Allison sniffled loudly. "Did I really...?"

Lydia started shaking her head. "It's okay, Allison. I'm fine."

"And Kira...?"

"She's fine."

"Did I shoot that cop too?"

Lydia looked confused for a moment and finally recalled Deputy Cordova. "Um, possibly... I guess. But he's fine now!"

Allison sniffled loudly, but she seemed suddenly calmer.

"I'm sorry that I drugged you and shot an arrow at you," she said.

"I'm sorry that you were possessed," Lydia said, and it occurred to her at that instant how weird that conversation should have sounded in her own ears. Nothing was ever weird enough anymore; nothing seemed impossible ever again.

"I can't believe I let this happen to me," Allison said, shutting her eyes and leaning her head back on the pillows. "Deaton says that the sacrifice might have made me vulnerable. That I made myself vulnerable."

"How exactly?"

"My nightmares. My hallucinations. I let them get the best of me," Allison explained. "That's why I was acting so weird. I couldn't focus. I kept seeing..." she trailed off, looking away. Lydia didn't need to hear it, she already knew. It was still hard for Allison to talk about the death of her aunt Kate.

"Maybe if I had talked to someone about it, about those things, then I could've figured out what was going on," Allison said, angry at herself. "I should've talked to you or Isaac or even Scott, I should've told someone."

"Tell us what?"

"That I opened a door too."

Lydia immediately thought of Stiles's room, of sitting in his bed and watching him disappear through his door into the darkness.

"What door?" she asked. Allison sighed.

"It was the first really vivid hallucination I had. I was late for school, and I got on the elevator in my building, and it opened to the hallway to the morgue at the hospital. I went in, and it was a mess, and one of the doors of the cold chamber was ajar. I knew whose it was, but I opened it and looked inside. It seemed like it went on forever. And then I saw..." she swallowed hard, "my aunt Kate crawling toward me. I slammed the door and ran out, and when I got through the doors, I realized I was already in school."

Lydia stared at her long and hard. "You let them in," she whispered.

"I let them in? Who's them?"

Lydia shook her head. "But you didn't go _through_ the door, you just opened it briefly. You let them in, but you didn't cross the threshold yourself." She looked back at her friend. "That's why they didn't really get you. But they got Stiles."

"What do you mean?"

Lydia didn't answer. She felt like crying. If this was true, if this is how things had happened, then maybe this was all her fault. She had been there, with Stiles, in his room, in his dream, and she had had the chance to stop him, to keep him from going through the threshold. But she didn't. She hadn't been able to. Or maybe she just hadn't tried hard enough.

"You're right, you should have told us everything that was bothering you, but that doesn't matter anymore," she said, patting her friend's arm gently. "But listen, if you manage to remember anything, anything at all, you have to tell us. You have to help us. You might be the only who has seen Stiles in the past two days, and if you manage to remember anything about that, where you might have seen him, if he said anything to you, then it would be really helpful."

Allison took a deep breath and calmed down. She ran a hand over her hair repeatedly. "Why can't I remember anything?" she said through clenched teeth. "You would think that I'd recall putting together a bomb and kidnapping my ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend."

Lydia sat down as best as she could on the edge of Allison's bed and grabbed her friend's hand. She was about to comment on the fact that she doubted Scott and Kira were an item (yet) but that was probably not the most pressing matter concerning Allison.

"Don't worry about it now. The important thing is that you're no longer under the Nogitsune's control, and he can't get to you anymore. You're safe. We're all safe."

"Are we?" Allison asked. Lydia didn't reply.

* * *

After Lydia left, Kira and Scott went in to see her. Lydia didn't even want to imagine the awkwardness in that room. They eventually came out, looking not too shaken, and watched as Isaac practically sprinted past them into Allison's room.

"Poor guy," Kira said. Lydia rolled her eyes.

"Well, that went better than I expected. She's going to be okay," Scott said, sitting beside Lydia. Kira sat on her other side.

"The Nogitsune can't get to her anymore. Not while she's got Letharia Vulpina running through her body," Kira said.

"Yeah, but how are _we_ going to get to the Nogitsune now?" Lydia asked. "I mean, it's not like that thing is not still out there, plotting something." Scott stared at the ceiling, blinking blankly.

"At least we know it's playing the same game we are," Kira said with a dubious shrug. "We were right about the hunter, and the fox." She pointed at herself.

"But we still don't know about the headman. It could be the Sheriff, but it could be someone else."

"Well, the Sheriff is safe, and so are Kira and Allison," Scott pointed out.

"Yeah, but for how long?" Lydia said. "Until we can capture the Nogitsune and be done with it, then I'm sure it will find new, more clever ways to try to kill us all."

None of them said anything for a long time. Finally Kira got up and looked at them.

"Okay, I think it's time I get a grip and ask my parents about it," she declared. "I think they know a lot more about this than they're letting on, and I think it's time that they share it with me."

Scott stood up. "I'll come with you."

"Oh no, you're not," Melissa said sternly from behind the desk. She had been shuffling through files noiselessly and they had forgotten she was there. "You're going home, mister. It's a school night. Alpha or not, you do as I say."

Scott groaned. "Mom, I think this should be considered more important than being home on a school night. I'm trying to save Stiles, you know."

Melissa narrowed her eyes and stared long and hard at him. "Fine, but you get home before 10. Also you have to pick me up when my shift ends."

Scott hugged her mom and grabbed the car keys, and took Kira's hand. Lydia watched them leave.

"What about you, honey?"

Lydia turned to Melissa and suddenly remembered that her car was back in the school parking lot.

"Do you want me to call your mom? Can she come pick you up" Melissa asked.

"Actually, I already spoke to Mrs. Martin," Sheriff Stilinski said, walking up from around the corner of the main desk. "I told her I would drive Lydia home. It's the least I can do after what she did today."

Lydia turned bright red. She couldn't look the Sheriff in the eye, but he gestured for her to follow him and she did without a word.

* * *

They drove in complete silence. Lydia hadn't felt so awkward in his presence ever; not even topped by that time he had to cover her up with his jacket because she turned up in the middle of the night, naked.

She was just a mess by now. It had been a long, tense, grueling day. And it was officially forty eight hours since Stiles had last been seen. She was basically coming undone by now, and she couldn't even imagine how the Sheriff even managed to keep his cool. But in the silent darkness of the patrol car, he seemed awfully wearied.

Now that she thought of it, maybe she _had_ seen Stiles in the last forty eight hours after all. Lydia could have sworn she had seen him crossing in front of her car that morning, in the school parking lot. What if it hadn't been a hallucination? What if it had really been him?

But what would he have been doing there, in plain sight?

Unless he had wanted to be seen. By someone. By her.

"What you did today was very brave," the Sheriff said suddenly, interrupting her thoughts.

"More like very stupid. I put all of us at risk. We could've all been killed, not just Kira," she said bitterly.

"But Allison would've been killed by the blast as well. So you saved her too. And you saved us all. That firebomb contained enough materials to blow up a crater where we stood _and_ set the whole forest ablaze. It would've killed us and a lot of other people."

Lydia frowned in confusion. "Firebomb? Like an incendiary bomb? Like the ones the U.S. used on Japan in the Pacific?"

The Sheriff nodded. "Yeah, the timer you deactivated was for the ignition and the detonation. Parrish said he had never seen anything like it. It was a fusion between an incendiary device and a high explosive. It was a really dangerous move for you to handle it. But you kept your cool. You deactivated it. It worked."

"It was stupid."

"It was very brave, Lydia," he said a little more forcefully, as if trying to convince her once and for all. "You know, Stiles is always saying how incredibly smart and brave you are, but until today I thought he was just exaggerating."

Lydia chuckled a little, then stared out the window thoughtfully, processing all this. She watched the streetlights passing by, and wondered where Stiles might be.

Before she knew it, the Sheriff pulled into the driveway of her house, and got out of the car. He rounded the car and opened Lydia's door and held out a hand for her like a gentleman. Lydia accepted it wordlessly and stepped out. He walked her to the doorway, and she stood there awkwardly, hesitating before ringing the bell.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked as they waited for her mom to open. Lydia's shoulders slumped and she pressed her lips tightly together, unsure of how to respond. There was nothing that she could honestly say to this man that would make either of them feel reassured.

"Just tired, I guess," she said, glancing at him. He caught her eye for a moment, and in that split second, she knew that they were both very much afraid, and she couldn't help the shiver that rocked her body. She wanted someone to tell her that everything would be alright.

"Come here," he said, pulling her gently into a hug, and she just let herself be embraced. She buried her face into the Sheriff's shoulder, glad that he had psychically understood her need, and relieved that she wasn't the only one, that someone else felt the same way that she did. She wanted to cry into his shoulder and let it all out, but felt it was asking too much from the man. He had his own grief, and she didn't want to burden him with her own more than it was necessary.

"Thank you," she mumbled before pulling away. She heard her mom on the other side of the door, rushing to open it.

"Lydia! Thank god!" Lydia's mom exclaimed, finally pulling the door open. She hugged her daughter tightly, one hand protectively on the back of her head. "Are you okay? Were you harmed? Oh, thank you, Sheriff! You should've called, I would've picked her up from the hospital myself! Lydia, you left your car back in the school parking lot. And your schoolbag! I have it right here! Oh it was chaos even after they confirmed that it was safe to return to the school building. But then they sent everyone home. It was for the best. They cancelled class tomorrow too, something about safety measures being revised. Oh I hope you're in on that, Sheriff, I assume they'll bring the experts in for that. Today was a total nightmare, and I hope we don't have to go through that again."

Sheriff Stilinski said goodnight and turned back to his patrol car. Lydia watched him go and then headed straight to her room, declaring that she was too exhausted to eat, and she just really needed to sleep. Her mother didn't protest much.

She peeled off her dirty clothes and got into the shower and stood under the steaming spray for a while, staring at the wall. She had a very vivid image replaying in her head: Allison pointing an arrow at her, calling her a damsel in distress, and shooting without a second thought. It was terrifying to think that her best friend had almost been responsible for mass murder.

No, that hadn't been her best friend. It had been the Nogitsune, taking control of her. Like it hadn't been Stiles trying to choke her in the forest. Because Stiles wouldn't do that, and neither would Allison.

She sighed, tears inevitably welling up in her eyes. Allison, in her bewitched state, had called her a damsel in distress; Sheriff Stilinski had told her that Stiles always talked about her as a brave person.

Lydia cried a little, feeling the tension ebbing away at last, while she scrubbed her skin until it was raw and her fingers were wrinkled, and she felt different, like she had washed off and cried out the fear somehow.

She had to be brave. She had to.

She just wished she knew what to do now.

* * *

_I'm sorry if there was not enough going on in this chapter. I'll make sure to make it a bit more action-packed by the next one._

_Thank you to the people who have liked my story, to the ones who have followed it, and especially to the people who review. I'm glad you're liking it so far. I'll try to make good of my promise and finish soon. I swear I won't get up from this chair at all today, not until I have at least another chapter done._

_-Vale._


	9. Chapter 9

_Why is this taking me so long? What the hell happened on that last episode? Ugh, why is this show so freaking addictive? So many questions..._

_By this measure, I still have about 4 chapters to go… kill me now..._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf, but if I did, I would never kill anyone. So don't kill anyone, please. DON'T KILL ANYONE. DON'T KILL MY BABIES. UHH… *ugly sobbing*_

* * *

**Found**

Chapter 9

_by HappyValentina_

Lydia woke up with the alarm clock and mentally kicked herself. She couldn't remember when she fell completely asleep, so naturally she had forgotten to turn the alarm off so she could sleep in.

There was no school today, not after the bomb scare. Lydia didn't know what was worse, having to go to school in her state, or staying at home with nothing to do but fret.

She lay in bed for a long time, staring at the ceiling, wondering what to do. What she really wanted to do was make everything better, but there seemed to be a lot of steps in between, and no one had a clue of what they were.

Allison would stay in the hospital until tomorrow, presumably, so maybe Lydia could stop by and visit. And then what? She needed answers, something to keep going.

As if on cue, her phone rang.

"Lydia, it's Scott," the voice on the other end of the line sounded urgent. "Listen, we talked to Kira's parents last night, and her mom had some pretty interesting revelations. I think you'd want to hear this, I think we're finally making progress now. Can you come over to my house?"

Lydia couldn't say 'yes' quickly enough, and she dashed off to get ready.

* * *

An hour later, Lydia had already heard the entire explanation, and was sitting on the edge of Scott's living room couch, having a hard time processing it.

"So... basically... your mom, who looked exactly like you when she was younger, is 900 years old, invoked the Nogitsune who possessed the dead body of her American soldier boyfriend?"

Kira nodded. "Yep."

"And then he went on a havoc and killed everyone in the internment camp, which is now the local madhouse?"

"Yep."

"And then your mom had to kill him again and capture the fly?"

"Yep."

"The fly is the actual Nogitsune?"

"Sort of, yeah."

"Which she then put in a jar, a glass jar, and hid it in the roots of the Nemeton?"

"Until we sacrificed ourselves and reactivated the power of the Nemeton to full speed, yes," Scott interjected. Lydia nodded, grasping the irony.

"So, what do you think?" Kira asked.

Lydia didn't say anything for a moment. She just stood up and paced around the living room. She found herself staring at pictures. Baby pictures of Scott, Scott and his mom. There were a few pictures of Scott and Stiles. It wasn't surprising at all: Stiles was Scott's brother by every measure except genetic.

She finally turned around and faced her friends.

"Well, I guess that explains the bombs," she started tentatively. "This soldier might have had some knowledge on building and disarming bombs. Firebombs were a big thing in the Pacific war."

"Okay... what does that mean?" Scott asked.

"It might mean... that the Nogitsune might tap into its host's mind. Memories, personality, etc."

"So you're saying... what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that the Nogitsune not only uses the person to inhabit his or her body and mind, but also it actually uses things about the person to impersonate them, to fool us."

"Well, we know that! It's a trickster, it makes perfect sense," Scott said. "What we're trying to figure out, based on what we know, is another way to get rid of the Nogitsune without having to kill the host, because I obviously don't want to kill Stiles, and also that's clearly not even a foolproof way to do it."

"I think it was supposed to work, if not for the fact that the hiding place my mom picked happened to be the Nemeton that you guys repowered," Kira pointed out.

"Actually it was Derek. He killed a girl down at the roots some years back. Technically he did it. We just... gave it an extra boost... you might say," Scott said bashfully.

"Yeah, but how could you have known this would happen? How could my mom?"

Lydia stood in the back, not saying anything. She suddenly remembered something and spaced out completely. She didn't hear Scott calling her.

"Sorry, what?" she said.

"I was saying that Kira has been training herself, you know, in case it came down to having to confront the Nogitsune and... you know... duke it out," he explained. "So I was thinking maybe you could do the same?"

Lydia blinked in confusion. "I'm sorry, are you planning to fight Stiles?"

"No! No, but just in case... it comes down to it."

"In case it comes down to what?" Lydia demanded. "Are you going to stab him with a katana just like your mom did?"

"That's what we want to figure out! Something that doesn't involve using that!" Scott retorted, getting a little worked up. "Come on, Lydia! You're the smart one. You have to help us figure it out."

"How? I don't fight!"

"I don't want you to fight! I want you to, to, to tap into your powers! You have that sixth sense or whatever! There's gotta be something that you can find out, tap into, get us answers. We're running out of time! Try it!"

"I don't know how..." Lydia muttered.

"Well, figure it out. Come on, you're a banshee. You're incredibly smart and logical. You were Stiles's anchor when we did the sacrifice. You have to be able to use all those things to help us get to him, and save him."

Save him. Save Stiles. Lydia didn't know the first thing on how to purposely use her power to do anything, let alone save someone's life. This was too much pressure to do something that terrified her. She sat down in the nearest chair and tried her best to hold back her tears.

"What is going to happen to him? Is the Nogitsune just going to inhabit his body forever if we don't stop it?" she asked in a small voice. Kira shrugged.

"I don't know. But my mom keeps saying that the only way we'll be able to destroy the Nogitsune is by killing Stiles. Which we obviously don't want to do."

"Lydia, listen," Scott began, sitting beside the distraught redhead. "I didn't mean to pressure you. But this is my best friend we're talking about. I'll do anything I need to do to keep him safe, but I need your help. And I know you can do this, I know you can figure something out. We both know that Stiles would do the same thing for us. So will you please help me?"

Lydia nodded slowly. "Of course," she said quietly. "I'll do it. Now, if you need me, I'll be home, honing my skills. I mean, I don't even know where to begin, but, well... I'll do my best."

Without another word, she got up and left, not even saying goodbye.

* * *

She didn't go home. She drove to the Stilinski residence, hoping to find the Sheriff there. There had been something that Scott and Kira had said that had jarred a recent memory, and she had to go with it; she just hadn't said anything to them because she didn't want to get anyone's hopes up.

She walked to the door and rang the doorbell. The Sheriff opened almost immediately, looking hopeful.

"Oh, Lydia," he said, his face falling a little. It pained her to think that he might have been hoping to see Stiles. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Um, hi," she started awkwardly. "I just, uh, wanted to thank you... for what you said last night. And for giving me a ride home."

"It's the least I could do," he said. She noticed then that he was wearing his uniform.

"Sorry, were you heading to work?"

"Actually, I was. I mean, they offered me to have the day off, get some rest, but... you know... I don't really feel like being at home. I'm not much for being idle. And besides," he sighed heavily, "it's really quiet lately."

Lydia nodded, feeling horrible for him. "Sorry, I'll come back another time." She turned back toward the curb.

"Wait! Did you need something?" the Sheriff cut her off. She bit her lip.

"Actually, I was thinking that maybe I could have a look around Stiles's room," she said hesitantly. "I'm looking for clues, anything that might help me figure out something that could potentially... help us find out a way to... I mean, I'm just shooting in the dark. But hopefully there might be something that-"

"Lydia, just get in here," the Sheriff said, gesturing for her to come inside. She obeyed. "Look, I know I don't fully understand how you kids work, with your werewolves and your demon foxes and your... what was it that you were again?"

"Banshee," she said bashfully.

"That. Well, I'm not about to stop you from doing whatever supernatural thing it is you do that has indeed helped us in the past. I don't know how you do it, but if your instinct tells you to come here and snoop around my son's room, then by all means go ahead. All I want is my son back, safe and sound, so look in his room, look through the entire house, tear it down if you have to. Just... do your thing."

Lydia gulped. "Okay. No pressure at all."

The Sheriff put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to stress you out. But if there's anyone I trust with finding Stiles, and bringing him back in one piece, it's you." He shrugged. "Well, and Scott."

Lydia nodded.

"I'm going to the office for a while. You can stay for as long as you like. There's food in the kitchen. Whatever you want. Call me if you need anything, my numbers are all on the refrigerator door. If I'm not back by the time you need to leave, just let yourself out. But I'll be back as soon as I can."

He hugged her again, very briefly, and she patted his back in what she hoped was a reassuring manner.

* * *

Once he was gone, she realized how awkward this was. The last time she had been there, Aiden had been with her. It wasn't exactly normal to be in someone's house without them.

The house seemed ominously dark and quiet. Trying to minimize the awkwardness, Lydia headed upstairs and opened the door to Stiles's bedroom, very quietly, as if she felt she would stir something up if she made too much noise.

The room was exactly the way she had left it last time she had been there. She figured that no one else had been there since they found him sleepwalking in the middle of the night, at least not Stiles himself. And then he had disappeared.

The scissors were still stabbed into the pillow on top of the bed, with the web of red strings blooming from it. The boards of pictures still covered large portions of the walls. It was a disturbing scene, but it all looked oddly peaceful in the midmorning light.

She walked in and glanced around carefully, like she was expecting someone to jump out at her from a corner or something. She looked back at the door. The same door from the dream, the one that Stiles kept disappearing through, into suffocating darkness. She quickly pulled it open as far as it would go, grabbed a stack of books from a nearby shelf and stopped the door with them. Whether there was a point to that or not, at least it made her feel a little less scared.

With a sigh, she turned toward the bed and saw it. What she had come looking for was exactly where she had left it. She picked up the black frame containing one of the many drawings of the Nemeton that she had made weeks ago now. When she lifted it, the little piece of paper reading 'For Lydia' fell off and fluttered back onto the bedspread. Lydia looked at it before putting it in her pocket.

When Kira had mentioned the Nemeton, Lydia's mind had immediately gone to the drawing, and the wild idea that maybe there was a message hidden there, that maybe Stiles had thought of giving them a clue. It was a little farfetched, but she had to try. Because it seemed right up Stiles's alley to leave a message precisely for Lydia, because he knew she'd figure it out.

She pried the back of the frame open, and pulled out the drawing carefully, looking at every inch carefully, around the back, under the bright fluorescent light of the desk lamp. There was nothing, or at least nothing visible to the naked eye. With a disappointed huff, she put it back in the frame and placed it in her bag. It was for her, after all, and suddenly she really wanted it.

She stood in the middle of the room, pondering what to do now. She couldn't leave until she had some kind of answer, or a clue, or anything at all. Just to check if it still worked, she carefully took one of the strings and plucked it gently. There were whispers, fainter this time. She couldn't make out what they were saying. She withdrew her hand quickly. Then she plucked another, and another, in order, as she glanced at the corresponding picture on the boards. More whispers, some fainter than others, but nothing intelligible yet.

Lydia stopped and took a deep breath. She needed to clear her mind, or she would lose it. Hearing so many disembodied voices was bound to take its toll on her.

Rubbing her temples and breathing deeply seemed to do the work. She closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them again, she caught something in her peripheral view.

One of the drawers of Stiles's bedside table was not completely closed, and she saw an eye looking at her out of it. She felt a cold sweat in the back of her neck, but then she pulled it open a little bit more and sighed in relief. It was only a picture.

She pulled the drawer open all the way, feeling a little self-conscious. The picture on top was of a woman who bore a striking resemblance to Stiles, with the same big warm brown eyes, the same nose, the same hair color, and the same pale complexion. Her long hair fell in pretty waves around her face, she didn't have as many freckles dotting her skin, and her smile had a peculiar softness to it.

Lydia stared sadly at the portrait of Claudia Stilinski. Possibly one of the many pictures that had once been displayed around the house, until either father or son had found it too painful to look at on a daily basis, and had taken most of them down. But Stiles hid it, probably to look at it every day.

It wasn't the only one; there were pictures of baby Stiles in his mother's arms; little Stiles with both his parents; Claudia on her own; Claudia and the Sheriff. A few of them had the date and place written on the back in smudged ink.

Lydia wiped a tear from her cheek. She didn't know why she was crying, if it was because it seemed so tragic, or if it was the idea that Stiles might go the same way his mother had. It was so unfair.

She remembered it quite vividly, that long period in fifth grade when Stiles just didn't come to school. The absence was striking, because the classroom seemed unusually quiet, and no one was telling Stiles and Scott to stop passing notes to each other. The teachers explained very briefly that Stiles was spending time with his mother who was ill. Then one day they informed them that Stiles's mom had passed away, so he wouldn't be back for a while still.

Lydia remembered the day of the funeral, because Scott didn't go to school that day either. She also remembered feeling utterly sad, and trying not to think about it, until she went home and told her mom; that was when she let it all out and cried in her mom's lap until she calmed down.

But she never told Stiles; no, what would have been the point? How would that have made him feel better about anything? He had enough to deal with.

Putting the pictures in a neat pile, Lydia knelt down by the open drawer and placed the pile carefully back inside. There was something at the bottom, however, that she hadn't checked.

It was a newspaper cutout, from years ago. She recognized herself in the main picture. It was an article on a school play, which had been published in one of the smaller local newspapers. The Beacon Hills Elementary School's third grade production of 'Sleeping Beauty' had been a hit on opening night. Lydia had been selected to play Aurora, mainly because she was good at remembering her lines (like she was good at a lot of things, at the top of the class all the time), but even in her gap-toothed, smallest-in-class awkwardness, she had also wanted to not be the nerdy girl for one day and instead be the princess.

Somewhere along the way she had forgotten that she could be both, without shame.

Stiles had been the one to tell her that, the first and only person to tell her that she shouldn't dumb herself down for any guy.

She couldn't believe that he had kept that newspaper article all this time. Or that he had kept and framed the drawing of the Nemeton.

Lydia closed the drawer and stood up, looking around the room again. She had to find something, she just had to. She cleared her head as best as she could and went back to plucking at the red strings, listening intently to the voices, the whispers, to try to catch anything, any clue.

She didn't know how long she had been doing that, but she was exhausted, and she had nothing to show for it. It was pointless, anyway. It didn't make a difference to know where Stiles could be, even if the 'whispers' could tell her. It didn't matter because they still didn't know how to get that thing out of him.

She sat on the edge of the mattress, defeatedly, staring right at the picture of Eichen House.

And then it came to her.

The madhouse. The place where she had been so certain that she would find him. The voices had told her. She had practically seen it before she even went there. And then he wasn't there after all. Not physically, though, but he had been in his mind.

The madhouse that once had been the internment camp for Beacon Hills during the Pacific War.

Where Kira's mom had killed the Nogitsune once, in the basement.

The same basement where Stiles had believed himself to be.

And she had heard him. Lydia had been doing something completely unrelated, miles away, and she had heard him, his voice shaking, asking them to come find him.

She had been able to hear his voice coming through the speaker, over the music.

Had she heard him because of her gift? Or had the Nogitsune intended for her to hear him?

* * *

Lydia sneaked around the corner of the main hallway at Beacon Hills Elementary during free period, checked there was no one in the vicinity, and made a beeline for the library. Once inside, she gave a sigh of relief and walked around as noiselessly as she could manage, walking through every aisle, every section, just looking at the spines of books. She felt safe.

It was the first day of school, and Lydia was the new girl in the third grade. She didn't know anyone and no one had even talked to her yet, and she was too shy to talk to anyone. She didn't feel like spending her free period pretending like she was fine all by herself and avoiding awkward eye contact; she just wanted to be really alone for a while.

She picked a book about Greek mythology and carried it to the nearest table, smiling at the kind-faced librarian as she passed by. The library was otherwise completely deserted, or so she thought. It was only after she had sat down that she noticed she wasn't completely alone. There was a pile of books on the table, and behind it was a boy, sitting at the end of the table with his head down on his book.

The boy was actually fast asleep. Lydia glanced at his face to make sure of this. His thick dark eyelashes lay over his pale cheeks, and his lips were minutely parted, resting against his right hand that acted as a pillow along with the book. Lydia straightened herself up, blushing slightly at the idea of being caught staring at him so intently.

Lydia thought about switching over to another table, but when she tried to get up, her chair scraped on the floor noisily. She froze. The boy stirred for a moment but didn't wake up. Lydia sighed with relief and settled back on the chair. She stared at him, making sure that she really hadn't woken him up, and resigned herself to stay at that table. She opened her book carefully and started reading, stealing a glance in his direction every once in a while.

She became so immersed in her book, in the stories of gods and demigods and fantastic creatures, that she didn't even feel time passing. When it occurred to her to glance at the clock, it was almost time for the bell to ring. She sighed disappointedly and closed her book, forgetting to be quiet. The book snapped closed loudly, and the boy lifted his head in surprise. Lydia winced and looked perfectly embarrassed.

"Sorry," she whispered. "I didn't mean to wake you."

The boy rubbed his eyes blearily. "It's okay," he said with a yawn. He blinked a couple of times and then stared at her. His eyes became a little wider.

"Hi," he said a little breathless. She blushed.

"Hi," she repeated in a small voice. "I'm new here."

"I know," he said, turning beet red, which in turn made her go just as red as well. She cleared her throat awkwardly.

"What were you reading? Before you fell asleep, I mean," she asked.

He chuckled sheepishly and lifted the book to display the cover. "'The Call of the Wild'. You?"

"Greek mythology," she said.

"Cool," he said with a nod.

"I like 'The Call of the Wild' too," she said. "And 'White Fang'."

"Yeah, they're awesome."

"Kind of sad, though," she added.

He nodded. "Well, so is Greek mythology."

She stared at him, wide-eyed, and he scratched his neck awkwardly.

"I mean, everyone seems to suffer a lot because of the gods and their big egos, don't you think? They get turned into flowers and trees and stars because the gods get angry at them for not good reason. It all seems a little unfair."

She nodded along with him. It was oddly nice to be in the library, her safe haven, with a boy she had never met before, talking about books. She didn't feel so bad or lonely anymore.

"Although I really like Ulysses and Perseus and Cassandra. Those are cool," he said.

"But Cassandra's story is really sad," she pointed out. "It's one of the saddest of all the stories."

The story of Cassandra was possibly one of the most tragic but also one of the most interesting; the god Apollo gave her the power of prophecy, as a gift, only wanting to seduce her, and when she refused, he got angry and cursed her so that her prophecies would never be believed.

The boy shrugged and smiled. "I know it's sad, but I still like it anyway."

"Me too."

The bell rang. They both stood up quickly. She pushed her hair behind her ear and held out her hand toward him.

"I'm Lydia," she blurted out, feeling stupid. That's not how kids greeted each other. What an idiot she could be. But the boy smiled and took her hand and shook it gently.

"I'm Stiles."

She felt even more relieved. It felt good to know someone's name, and for someone to know her name.

"Is that really your name?" she asked with a small smile. He shook his head.

"No. It's what I like people to call me."

"I like it."

He turned bright red again, running a nervous hand over his messy dark brown hair.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around," she said, taking a step back hesitantly. Stiles nodded and waved goodbye, grabbing his book and the backpack hanging off the back of the chair.

"Bye, Lydia," he said, heading off. She watched him go, before turning toward the aisle where she had found the book.

"Lydia," someone said near her shoulder as she stood on tiptoe to replace the book. She felt a tap on her shoulder, then a hand wrapping around it and shaking it, more and more vigorously, and she lost her balance and fell backward.

* * *

"Lydia? Lydia, wake up," a man's voice kept saying. Lydia rolled over onto her back and had that awful sensation of falling. Her eyes flew open in alarm even as she found that she wasn't actually falling because she was already lying down. She gasped in surprise and scrambled to sit up.

Sheriff Stilinski put reassuring hands to her shoulders and made a soothing noise. "No, no, calm down. You're okay. You just fell asleep."

Lydia looked around and realized where she was: still in Stiles's room, and she had fallen asleep across his bed, under the red web. As soon as she sat up, her head touched the strings, and a flurry of whispering voices filled her ears, a little disorienting.

"Oh my god, Sheriff, I'm so sorry," she said once the voices shut up. She pushed herself to the edge of the bed and stood up. He watched her concernedly.

"Nah, it's fine. I just hope you got a good rest. I wish I could do the same."

"I don't even remember lying down or anything," she said, combing her hair quickly with her fingers and looking around in confusion. Had she put the pictures away? She didn't know if the Sheriff was aware of Stiles's stash. "How was work?" she asked just to change the subject, because she didn't really want to hear how the Sheriff had probably been putting on a thorough search for his son all over the county, with no results.

Predictably, the Sheriff sighed tiredly and ran a hand through his hair. Lydia noticed how the gesture was identical to the one Stiles frequently did.

"Nothing on the radar," he said simply. "What about you? Did you find what you were looking for?"

Lydia glanced at her bag, containing the framed drawing she had been so certain would contain a secret message.

"I don't know. I think I might have missed one of these, maybe I haven't plucked all of them," she said, pointing to the strings. The Sheriff just stared at her, a look of utter confusion etched on his face. She made a face and turned red.

"I, uh, I hear voices when I pluck them," she said. "I thought I mentioned that."

"Uh-huh, yeah, you did. Last time you told us that the strings said that Stiles was in Eichen House," the Sheriff replied. His tone was even, but Lydia closed her eyes, knowing how strange and unrealistic it all sounded.

"Yeah, I know that was not where he was. But in a way he was," she said, not too convinced herself. "At least we're pretty sure he was... in his mind..." She remembered Cassandra's curse and sighed, distraught. She turned to pick up her bag.

"I'm really sorry, Sheriff," she said quickly, feeling flustered. "I've taken up too much of your time, and it's pointless."

"Lydia, no," he said, holding up his hands, gesturing for her to calm down. "I didn't mean it like that. I know you have a gift, and that even you don't know how to work it properly. And I appreciate that you are doing this to try to find Stiles. As I said before, if there's one person I trust to find him, is you."

Lydia nodded, feeling her face growing hot. "What makes you say that?"

The Sheriff shrugged and smiled kindly. "I guess it's just a gut feeling."

She pushed her hair back nervously. She wanted to tell him that she had no idea what she was doing, and that she was terrified. But he trusted her. So she had to do her best, whatever that meant.

"I'm gonna try again," she said, putting her bag down again, and moving to the other side of the web. She would pluck every string again if necessary. Maybe she wasn't listening properly; maybe she wasn't concentrating enough.

She plucked one. Nothing. A second one. Nothing. The third one, the voices were clearer. This was it, perhaps. She plucked the same string again.

"_Stiles is dying."_

Lydia's breath caught in her throat. She looked at the Sheriff, who was watching her intently.

"You didn't by any chance hear that, did you?" she asked sheepishly.

He shook his head slowly. She relaxed a little, then plucked it again.

"_He's going to die."_

Lydia lifter her eyes toward the Sheriff again, gulping uncomfortably.

Without a word, she moved to another string. The voices grew steadily clearer.

"Are you getting anything?" Sheriff Stilinski asked in a very low voice, as if afraid to disturb Lydia. She plucked the string again.

"I think I know where he is."

"Really?"

"Yes. But it doesn't make sense."

"Why not?"

"Because they say that..." she said, looking around in confusion. Her eyes landed on a picture by the computer screen, one that Aiden had picked up and put in the wrong place. It was a picture of Stiles and Scott during Lacrosse practice. The voices got louder.

"They say that he's with Scott."

"With Scott?" the Sheriff asked. "You mean Scott found him?"

"No," she shook her head minutely as she touched the string again. "It seems that Stiles came looking for Scott. At his house."

"But that-" before the Sheriff could finish, his phone rang. He looked at it quickly and answered.

"Melissa, hi."

Even at the other side of the room, Lydia could hear Melissa McCall's voice shouting on the other line, and a weird racket in the background.

"-he's here! He broke down the door! He's trying to-!"

"What? Stiles? Stiles is there? Melissa! Melissa, are you okay? Melissa! Meli-"

The line went dead. The Sheriff and Lydia exchanged looks, wide-eyed and frightened.

"Let's go! Call Scott on the way!" he indicated, gesturing for her to follow him. She grabbed her bag and rushed after him, down the stairs. She dialed Scott in the meantime, as they rushed out of the house and got on the patrol car.

It rang twice. She didn't even wait for him to say hello.

"Scott? Are you home? We're on our way. Your mom just called the Sheriff saying that-" she stopped when she heard a chuckle on the other end. "Scott?"

"Scott is M.I.A. at the moment," Stiles's voice sounded otherworldly, deceitfully syrupy on the other end of the line. "If you happen to come across him, please do tell him that I'm looking for him. As he has probably figured out by now, we have... unfinished business."

The call ended. Lydia gulped and stared at her phone, breathing hard.

"What happened? What is it?" the Sheriff asked, barely taking his eyes off the road as he sped across every intersection, sirens blaring. Lydia shook her head.

"You need to drive faster," she merely said, holding on to the handle above the door. The Sheriff obeyed, while Lydia started dialing her phone again.

"Derek, you need to go to Scott's house now."

* * *

_Action-packed chapters finally coming. Bear in mind, that's probably going to take me longer to type. I'll do my best, or die at the keyboard._

_Shout out to all my fellow Stydia-shippers. Seems we're getting a lot of Stydia next week, however creepy it turns out to be. I think I'm gonna faint. If I don't make it alive, I have loved you all._

_-Vale._


	10. Chapter 10

_Sorry for the wait. It's been a busy week. And it's going to be an even busier weekend. Hopefully I can get more done before the episode on Monday. Before the entire fandom is wiped out by collective shock and despair. If something awful happens, I'm gonna die and then I won't be able to finish this story, so I better get this over with._

_The next four chapters (yes, four… ugh) were sketched out from when I begun writing this story, so if anything seems too similar to what has happened on the show, bear in mind that I had already thought about it and I'm not just making it up as I go along, and certainly not copying what happened on the show. You'll know it when you read it. _

_Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf, but if I did, I probably would've ripped out all my hair already, from the nerves. How do you still have hair, Jeff Davis?! HOW?!_

* * *

**Found**

Chapter 10

_by HappyValentina_

They made it to Scott's house in record time. The Sheriff told her to stay in the car, but Lydia was beyond listening to such commands. Seriously, how much safer could she actually be in the car? As if a structure of metal and glass were supposed to keep the Nogitsune out.

She followed him closely, and from the moment they stepped onto the porch, it was clear that some kind of confrontation had happened. There was a broken vase right in front of the door, and an upturned table further inside. The Sheriff pulled out his gun and walked in slowly, quietly, checking every corner. Lydia walked right behind him. She wished she had something with which to defend herself.

"AHH!" she yelped in surprise when someone touched her shoulder, and the Sheriff whipped around quickly and pointed his gun. Derek held his hands up defensively.

"Don't shoot," he said. Sheriff Stilinski lowered the gun and gave a sigh of relief. Lydia clutched a hand to her chest, breathing fast.

"Don't do that!" she hissed, slapping his arm. "You scared the crap out of me."

"I thought you were expecting me. You did tell me to meet you here, after all," Derek whispered.

"We don't know if that thing is still here, we just got here. We don't know if Scott or Melissa are still here either," the Sheriff announced, continuing his slow, careful progression into the McCall residence. As they went in further, they saw more things out of place, furniture, pictures. There had definitely been a fight.

"Here, I thought you might need this, in case you're feeling a little defenseless," Derek handed Lydia a bat. Stiles's baseball bat. She took it and looked at it curiously.

"Why did you have this?"

"I was going to give it back to him, but then he became... you know."

Lydia nodded. The last time Stiles had his bat with him, they were looking for Kira. It was his only weapon, so ubiquitously his. Lydia gripped it tightly in her hands and followed the Sheriff.

"They're not here, by the way," Derek said. "I don't catch any scent. Wait," he sniffed the air for a moment. "I think... upstairs."

The two men started up the stairs, Lydia trying to keep up.

"Scott? Melissa?" the Sheriff called. Derek pointed to the main bedroom, and suddenly they could hear it; loud thumping and a muffled voice calling desperately.

"Melissa?" the Sheriff shouted, walking into her bedroom and staring in shock. All the furniture in her room had been piled up on one side, blocking the door to the walk-in closet. The thumping and shouting was coming from the other side.

Derek single-handedly started moving all the furniture away, with some help from the Sheriff, while Lydia stared in shock. All this had been done by Stiles?

Finally they managed to get all the things out of the way, and the Sheriff pushed the door open. Melissa stood up and threw herself in his arms, breathing heavily.

"Oh, thank god! I was going hoarse screaming in there," Melissa said. "Is he gone? Where's Scott?"

"Sit down. Let's get you some water. What happened?" the Sheriff said, leading her to the bed. Lydia rushed into the bathroom and grabbed a plastic glass and filled it with water from the faucet.

Melissa took a quick drink and started talking very fast.

"I was here, and Scott had just gotten home. After a while, he yelled for me to come downstairs. Stiles had just appeared in the middle of our backyard, he seemed to be unconscious. We took him inside, and I rushed to the bathroom to get the first aid kit. When I was coming out of the room, I heard Scott yelling that I should hide and call you. I could hear them fighting downstairs, I mean really going at it. I locked myself in the closet and called you. I heard someone come upstairs and I knew it was Stiles. I didn't know where Scott was. For a moment he tried to get in, but I'm guessing he was just trying to scare me, since he could've easily broken down the door if he wanted to. Instead, he just barricaded me in the closet."

"Scott's not in the house. If he left before Stiles did, he was probably trying to get Stiles to follow him," Derek said.

"Do you think Scott knew that that thing wouldn't hurt Melissa?" the Sheriff asked.

"I think he's specifically after Scott. He's not interested in anyone else," Derek said.

"Why? What makes you say that?" Lydia asked. Derek bit his lip.

"Remember the Nogitsune's game, and how we were trying to figure out who played what role in it? We were right about Allison, and we were right about Kira. But I think we were wrong about the Sheriff being the headman," he explained. The Sheriff and Melissa looked askance, but Derek ignored them. "I think the headman could have been me at some point."

"You? Why you?" Lydia frowned.

"As I explained to Scott a few days back, my family and I were once the protectors of Beacon Hills. After my family died in the fire, I was the only one left who had that responsibility. Turns out, as you can guess, that since I'm not the Alpha anymore, that role has gone on to the new Alpha, the true Alpha."

"Scott," the other three muttered. Derek nodded.

"He is the Nogitsune's target, I'm sure of it. Besides Kira, he might be the only person strong enough to defeat him. But we all know how difficult it would be for him to have to do that."

"Because killing the Nogitsune would mean killing Stiles," Melissa finished.

"We have to find him. We have to help him. Scott is going to get himself killed," Lydia said.

"I'll get the others. You call Deaton. Tell him to bring his fox poison," Derek instructed, getting up and running downstairs.

"I'll have some units patrolling the area. If they see anything, we'll let you know," the Sheriff shouted after him. Melissa got up.

"I'll come with you."

"No, you stay here in the safety of your house," the Sheriff said. It didn't sound so much like a command, more like a plea. Melissa sighed like she was trying to keep her cool.

"I think we're equally worried about our sons. I'm not about to sit back and wait patiently to find out what happened to either of them."

Lydia would've laughed at them, at they way they stared at each other defiantly, if she hadn't been so worried too. Still wielding the bat, she dashed out of them room, rushed downstairs, out of the house, and to the Sheriff's car. She flung the passenger door open and rummaged through her bag for her phone. Just as she was dialing Deaton, she saw the framed drawing tucked safely in her bag, and it dawned on her.

The drawing had been a message on its own.

The Nemeton. That's where the Nogitsune would be. Of course, that's where it came from originally.

"Hello?" Deaton's voice came from the auricular when the call connected. Lydia snapped out of it momentarily.

"Deaton, it's Lydia. I need you to meet me at the Nemeton and bring your Letharia Vulpina. That's where the Nogitsune is."

She shut off the call and grabbed her bag. She started off in the direction of Beacon Hills Reserve, just as the Sheriff and Melissa were coming out of the house.

"Lydia? Where are you going?"

"Lydia!"

"LYDIA!"

She didn't look back and just kept running. There was no time to lose.

* * *

It was eerily quiet in the forest, but mercifully bright. The air whipping around her face was chilly, but she didn't care. There was an impending sense of doom plaguing her; she knew that if she stopped or slowed down, that it would be too late. Scott was in trouble.

Soon enough, she was nearing the exact location of the Nemeton. She knew it because the feeling became stronger, the dread was almost overpowering.

And then she stopped. The silence in that part of the forest was unsettling. She looked around frantically, trying to see any movement.

Something passed over her head and she ducked instinctively, looking up in time to see a large shadow fly among the trees. Whatever it was, it crashed into a tree trunk, snapped it in half and plummeted to the ground. The upper half of the tree creaked and rustled as it bent toward the ground as well. Lydia saw it coming toward her and jumped out of the way just in time. The tree landed exactly where she had been a second ago. Lydia winced and grimaced, having landed on a jutting rock, cutting a deep gash on her thigh and part of her knee. She glanced where the thing had landed.

"Scott?"

Scott opened his eyes and moaned. He was in wolf-mode, his eyes glowing red, but he looked like he was in terrible pain. Half of his t-shirt was gone, and his skin was covered in bloody gashes. There was a burn on the side of his face, and more blood coming out of one side of his mouth, his nose and a cut on his forehead. Lydia dropped her bag and got up as quickly as she could, and limped toward him.

"Oh my god... oh my god," she muttered worriedly, looking him over. His left arm seemed to be dislocated, and the knees of his pants were torn and bloodied. "Scott, did the Nogitsune do this?"

"Lydia," he gurgled, trying to sit up with his one good arm, "get out of here, you need to get out of here. I can't protect you if he tries to hurt you too. He's too strong, too powerful. Please get out, don't let anyone else come. Just leave me here, please."

He looked like he was about to cry. He was starting to look more human and less werewolf. Lydia scrambled to his right side, and pulled his arm around her shoulders in an attempt to help him up.

"If I have to go, you're coming with me," she hissed, grunting with the effort. She managed to get him halfway up and then fell onto her knees, squealing faintly in pain as her injured leg collided with the soil. Scott was making no such effort, however, to get up, and instead pushed her away.

"I'm serious, Lydia! Get out! Leave me here!"

"I can't do that, Scott!"

Scott shook his head and made a noise of desperation. "Why did you have to come?"

"Yes, Lydia, darling, whatever possessed you come all the way out here? All alone?"

Lydia's eyes widened as she heard the other voice. The voice that sounded so familiar and yet so alien. She looked up in time to see Stiles appear among the trees, staying just out of the beams of light pouring in through the tree tops. He was wearing the same clothes that Stiles had been wearing the last time she saw him, but he looked clean, unscathed.

"Looking for me, perhaps?" the Nogitsune asked. Its eyes were Stiles's eyes, but they were cold, with a hint of a smirk at the edge of his lips. Lydia stood up, breathing hard.

"I know you're trying to kill Scott, because he's your headman. I won't let you," she said, her voice sounding stronger than she felt. The smirk on Stiles's face widened ever so slightly.

"What are you going to do? Scream at me?" it teased. Lydia swallowed and stood up more squarely.

"I know your game. We all do. We know the pieces of your game, and you still haven't been able to get rid of any of them, have you?"

It let out a long breath.

"You think that just because you're not a piece in this game that I wouldn't lay a finger on you?" it sneered, speaking slowly; too slowly, too taunting. "I feed off grief, and chaos and strife. They are my favorite things; watching humans bend to my every whim." The smirk grew even wider. "Do you have any idea what would become of poor Stiles if something were to happen to you?"

Lydia's breath became ragged and shallow. Beside her, Scott was breathing pretty much the same way, in pain and exhaustion, as he tried to sit up. He looked completely human again, frail.

The Nogitsune continued, advancing minutely toward her. "It would destroy him. He will break anyway, eventually, when his best friend dies, when his father dies. But you... you'd be the cherry on top..." it seemed to savor the words and it spoke them. Lydia felt a cold shiver racking her entire body as she watched it come closer, defenseless.

"Human feelings, such a powerful thing, yet so... weakening," the Nogitsune made a pout, followed by an expression of derision. Lydia was paralyzed with fear and distress, barely noticing that the Nogitsune was approaching faster and faster, until it was almost right in front of her.

"He will lose his mind. Just like his mother," it hissed.

Lydia shook her head stubbornly.

"You will all perish, and it will all have been his own fault. _Just like his mother,_" it repeated darkly.

It stopped talking and looked just past Lydia, perking up like an actual fox. Lydia tried to listen, while keeping her eyes on Stiles. Something flew past her head, toward the Nogitsune, but the fox was too clever and quick. A hand shot up and caught something midair, then held it in the palm of its hand. It was a dart. The Nogitsune tutted and shook its head.

"Did you really expect that to work?" it asked loudly. "Come out and take another shot."

Behind her, Lydia heard the crunching of dry leaves as someone walked closer. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Deaton, holding up one of Chris Argent's dart guns.

"My aim is probably not the best," Deaton admitted, lowering the gun. "Which is why it's a good thing that I also made these."

He pulled out what appeared to be two can of tear gas, and threw them in the general direction of the Nogitsune. Instantly, the cans started spewing out a lime green-colored smoke, screening the Nogitsune out of sight, but before it disappeared completely, Lydia saw it recoil.

"Good move!" it said, voice booming even when it didn't sound like it was shouting. "For all the good it will do you."

Deaton and Lydia hurriedly picked up Scott as best as they could and started carrying him out.

"He'd dying, you know?" the Nogitsune said, and Lydia knew it was talking directly to her. "Your friend Stiles is nearing his death. Do the voices not tell you that? When you seek me, when they tell you where to find me? Do they not tell you that he's on the brink, unraveling slowly, losing every bit of himself."

Lydia looked at Scott, who seemed to be struggling to stay awake.

"Even if I were to let him go right now, what would be left of him? Nothing but an empty shell of a boy. Nothing but a shadow."

"Everyone has it, but no one can lose it. Do you know the answer now, Lydia?" it said in a chilling whisper. Lydia kept going, her brain refusing to believe that she was walking away from Stiles, that she had failed once again to bring him back.

They moved as fast as they could, with poor Scott growling in pain between them. They were halfway through the forest, half the distance that Lydia had ran, when two werewolves ran into their path.

"Aiden! Ethan!" she shouted. They stopped behaving like wolves and turned back into humans.

"What happened?" Ethan asked, replacing Deaton as Scott's crutch.

"The Nogitsune... Stiles..." Scott huffed through gritted teeth. "He's getting... stronger..."

"We need to get him to my clinic. He's going to take a while to heal," Deaton declared as Lydia handed Scott over to Aiden on the other side. As she did, Aiden gave her a look of anger, like he was saying 'I told you so'. She ignored him.

* * *

The twins carried Scott more rapidly than Deaton and Lydia ever could, and they made it to the animal clinic in no time at all. Deaton had called Derek, Chris Argent and the Sheriff in the meantime. Lydia was about to call Kira, and suddenly she realized that she had forgotten her bag back in the forest with the Nogitsune. She panicked for a second, before she thought about calling Kira from Scott's phone.

Scott really was having a hard time healing. It was as if the wounds made by the Nogitsune were deeper and more powerful. The twins did their bit to take away some of the pain, hoping it would help him heal easier.

Derek arrived with Isaac, panting and dirty. They had been covering another part of the forest. The Sheriff and Melissa arrived shortly after, followed by Chris Argent. Poor Melissa was in a state when she saw her son, even though they assured her that he would recover, albeit slowly.

Soon enough, Kira also appeared, looking awfully distraught. Behind her, her mother and father walked into the room looking wary. The others greeted them coldly.

"Here, we made this for you. It might help you heal faster," Kira said to Scott, pulling out a clear bottle from her bag. It contained a light amber liquid.

"What is that?" Isaac asked.

"Kocha, ginger and gingseng tea. It helps restore energy and blood," she explained. "I'm not saying it's magical, but it might help."

"Can't hurt to try," Scott said with a weak chuckle, even as he sipped a little and made a face. "It's just a little bitter."

"I should've put sugar on it," Kira sighed, turning red with embarrassment.

"We warned you to stay away from it," Kira's mother spoke up. Everyone turned to look at her. "You think I was exaggerating? That Nogitsune probably has enough tails to make it the most powerful dark spirit to roam this earth in centuries."

"Tails? What are you talking about?" Aiden asked skeptically.

"A kitsune or demon fox gains power through the years, and the power is manifested through the number of tails it possesses. A kitsune can have up to nine tails, which only the most powerful can control. Kitsune that have lived for at least a century. The tails are its main source of power, they produce kitsune-bi, or foxfire. It's a very destructive force. This one may not even have nine, and yet it has demonstrated enormous power. Either that or its vendetta is stronger than we may have anticipated."

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you summoned it," Lydia muttered sourly, loud enough that everyone heard her.

Noshiko Yukimura looked at her aghast, and Lydia just looked back defiant, angry. This woman, this kitsune woman spoke of the Nogitsune as a simple issue at hand, a pest that must be eradicated, disregarding completely the role that she had played in its presence. She spoke of herself as if she weren't a kitsune herself, a potentially dangerous mythical creature. And worst of all, she spoke of Stiles as if he had always been the threat, and not someone that they had to try their best to save. To Noshiko Yukimura, Stiles was already dead, and she refused to acknowledge that she had been the one who had unleashed the chaos from the very start.

Noshiko didn't respond angrily. She bowed her head and nodded. "I know that it is my fault, that this is happening because of me. I tried to stop it. But there is only so much I could do. We have been given another chance to put an end to it, we must seize it."

"So you send the Oni to do your dirty work for you?" Lydia countered again.

"If you haven't noticed, I haven't summoned them again. I was trying to give you all a chance to find a way to end this threat, if you thought you could find a way that would miraculously not involve your friend dying. But I did warn you that in my 900 years of life I have never heard of anyone surviving the void, much less a void of that magnitude. If it must be done, I will end this threat myself, even if it means your friend has to die, because if we don't end this right now, then all of us will die. The Nogitsune will stop at nothing."

Lydia was shaking with rage. The voice of the Nogitsune echoed in her mind. _"Your friend Stiles is nearing his death. Do the voices not tell you that?"_

"What do we do, then?" Chris asked. He sounded cool and calculating, and Lydia suddenly hated him. No one said anything else.

"Wait, no. We're all here now, we have to think of someway to stop it, to make it go away and leave Stiles alone," Lydia stammered. "We have to find a weakness; what about Letharia Vulpina? It worked with Allison! That could poison it and render it useless without hurting Stiles-"

"The effect would only last for a while, it's not permanent," Deaton said. "And Allison was only bewitched, she wasn't actually possessed.

"But we could pump him full of it until we find some way to get the Nogitsune out. It could work-"

Noshiko shook her head. "There is no way. The only method to vanquish the Nogitsune would also kill Stiles in the process-"

There was a loud metallic bang and everyone jumped. Sheriff Stilinski had slammed his fists onto a metal table, breathing hard. He stared at all of them and pushed his way out of the group. They heard him slam the door on his way out. Melissa stroked her son's arm for a moment before heading out as well. Lydia shut her eyes.

"Do you not realize it yet?" Noshiko continued in a gentler voice. "The Nogitsune is not only in possession of Stiles's body and mind, but of his memories, of his feelings, of everything. And it will use it to its advantage, to trick us all. To make us think that your friend Stiles could still resurface."

Tears started forming in her eyes, and they did as well in Lydia's eyes. Lydia kept shaking her head, refusing to listen, but she couldn't bear it. It was true, it was all true. Kira's mom extended her arms toward her, and Lydia wanted to run away, to push her out of the way and run, but she felt like every bit of energy had been sucked out of her, so she didn't move. The woman's arms wrapped around her in a comforting gesture, and Lydia wanted to scream.

"I'm so sorry, child," Noshiko said in a small voice, tears streaming down her face. Lydia couldn't hold it in any longer. She started openly weeping, with everyone watching, burying her face in Noshiko's shoulder, feeling all the energy ebbing away.

It was hopeless, she finally admitted to herself. Maybe Stiles was really gone after all. Maybe the boy that looked like Stiles was now just a fox in disguise.

* * *

_Sorry, did that seem shorter? I'm getting lazy. Next thing you know, I'll be saying it's 15 chapters instead of 14. Hehhehe… heh..._

_Oh blessed celtic gods, please don't kill Stiles in the next episode. I'll do anything. For real. Amen._

_-Vale._


	11. Chapter 11

_Okay, I managed to write most of this before watching this monday's episode. Otherwise I think I wouldn't have been able to go on for much longer. I've been in mourning most of the week. I still can't believe they did that. I didn't think it would hurt this much, but it does..._

_I'm already at that point of the story where I actually started the story. This is the part that jotted down before anything else. So it shouldn't take me as long to finish the last few chapters. And then I can watch the season finale and try to move on with my life... until next season..._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf. But if I did, I would never EVER EVER WOULD HAVE KILLED ALLISON OMG YOU SON OF A BITCH JEFF HOW COULD YOU MY PRINCESS I WILL KILL EVERYTHING YOU LOVE HOW DARE YOU MY HEART MY BABIES *weeps well into the night*_

* * *

**Found**

Chapter 11

_by HappyValentina_

Lydia had to get out of there. Between the smell of antiseptic and the sight of Scott's blood, she was starting to feel queasy. Besides, she didn't feel like being in the same room as a few people. Mrs. Yukimura, most of all, but also Aiden, and Chris Argent.

But she also couldn't quite leave, not until she knew that Scott was okay. She just needed to clear her head.

The sun was starting to set. She stepped out of Deaton's quarters into the waiting room, and stood there for a while. She had been there so many times before, bringing Prada in for checkups and grooming. Those had been simpler times; the vet clinic was now the meeting point for the supernatural.

She was about to leave the vet clinic entirely, hoping that some fresh air would help her feel better, when just outside the door, she spotted Melissa McCall saying something quietly to the Sheriff, stroking his arm gently. Lydia blushed slightly, in spite of herself; watching them being like that with each other felt like intruding in a very intimate moment.

Lydia finally decided to go out, even if it meant interrupting.

"Sheriff?" she said gently.

Sheriff Stilinski barely glanced over his shoulder. Melissa turned to her, looking forlorn and exhausted. She wordlessly smiled at the Sheriff, gave one last reassuring squeeze to his arm, and walked past Lydia back into the office. The door swung slowly shut, and Lydia was left to fill the silence on her own.

"Are you okay?"she asked. What a stupid question. How could she ask that in a moment like that? She wouldn't want someone to ask her that at that instant either.

"That was a stupid question," she added, out loud, as an apology.

The man merely shook his head in response, leaving Lydia to wonder he did it to answer the first question, or as a response to her statement. His face was stony; his jaw muscles were tense, like he was keeping himself from having another fleeting moment of rage like he'd had inside, or like he was trying not to cry. Lydia was glad that he had left the room before she had a crying fit herself.

"Are you?" he finally spoke. Lydia was taken aback by the question, and hesitated before shrugging.

"I don't know how I am. I think I'm tired and sad and I feel completely useless."

"You're not useless. You're anything but. You tried so hard. I appreciate it."

Lydia looked at him in surprise at his choice of words. "I'm still trying. I'm not about to give up. I'm sure Scott won't either."

The Sheriff sighed deeply and rubbed his face. "No, no, we have to draw the line somewhere. I can't let Scott risk his life again like he did today. I can't let you put yourself in the danger that you have. I don't care if you both have supernatural powers, this is far too dangerous."

"Sheriff, come on."

"I won't allow it."

"You can't be serious."

He turned to her with an expression of desperation and anger.

"You think I'm joking? You think I would joke about something like this? I have been through this kind of hell before, I'm about to go through it again."

He wasn't yelling, but his tone was forceful enough to make her recoil. He breathed hard and fast, leaning against the wall and looking away, as if he were embarrassed by his outburst. But Lydia couldn't blame him at all.

"Mrs. Yukimura is wrong," she started in a small voice. "I don't know how I know it, but I do. And I know that I can prove her wrong, if I only got the chance. I know it, I can feel it."

The Sheriff shook his head slowly, looking down resolutely at the pavement. They both stood in silence for a long moment, and something clicked in her mind.

"Sheriff… I've been meaning to ask you..."she began hesitantly, "are you aware that Stiles has always somehow blamed himself for... for his mother's death?"

The silence that followed felt nearly asphyxiating. She almost regretted having posed the question.

"Yes," he replied, not looking up at her.

"But it's not true, is it? The illness that she had, the frontotemporal dementia, there's just no cure, right? He doesn't seriously think that he had anything to do with it, does he?"

The Sheriff sat down and sighed, looking grievous.

"He does. I've tried to convince him that he didn't, but..." he took a deep breath before he started explaining.

"I now know that there have been no advances in the search for a cure. But at the time that Claudia was starting to get worse, there were some experimental treatments being developed, drugs being tested, methods that could have perhaps delayed the progress of the dementia, at least some. The doctors did warn us, though, that submitting herself to these experiments would possibly just disable her further, that she wouldn't be able to carry on with her life as it was up until then; she'd be confined to the hospital. I think she knew that it wouldn't do any good anyway, that there was no solution."

"So she refused. She said that she wouldn't submit herself to anything that could keep her away from Stiles, from her home. She preferred to do absolutely nothing and spend the time that she still had with her son. She told me to do the same, to just let it go. So she let herself get worse, and I couldn't do anything except stand by and watch. I don't know if I ever truly believed that any of those treatments would allow me to keep my wife even a little bit longer, but I needed to hold on to hope. And it felt like she was denying me any of it. She just wanted to be happy for as long as she could, and I could barely pretend to understand that."

"When she died, Stiles was there with her. And I wasn't. He was devastated and alone. After a month, he and I started attending a grief support group. One time he said that he often wondered if there was something he could have done to help his mom out."

A tear rolled down his cheek and he brushed it away without a thought.

"I developed a drinking problem around that time; it was my escape at the time, from the pressure, from the hurt. I was angry at myself for not having been there when Claudia passed, and ashamed for leaving my son to bear the grief alone. But as I got worse, so did my ability to spot that I was not improving the situation, that I was distancing myself from Stiles."

"I remember one night in particular, that I was feeling extremely angry at everything, including myself. Stiles was chastising me for being a mess, and in a fit of rage I took it all out on him. I did the lowest thing I ever could have done, and told him that Claudia's death had been his fault."

He was crying now. Tears sprung to Lydia's own eyes as well.

"I told him that if it hadn't been for him, then maybe Claudia might have gotten a treatment that could have saved her, something that could have potentially kept her alive a while longer."

"How do you say something like that to a young boy? And he believed me. When I sobered up and realized what I had done, it was almost too late. He ran away from home, he left me a note saying he was sorry. I put out a search out for him, and we found him about ten hours later, in the middle of the reserve, freezing to the bone. I had never been so scared in my entire life. He could have died of hypothermia, attacked by coyotes, anything. He told me he was sorry for running away, and I couldn't even find the words to tell him that I was the one who was sorry, for blaming it all on him. He's all I have left, and I almost lost him."

"And that's when I decided to get help. It wasn't easy, but I kicked the habit eventually. I talked to Stiles, I have talked to him about it so many times, but I'm not sure if I ever got through to him. I think he really believed it at the time and he still does, and he's never going to believe otherwise."

The Sheriff wept openly, muffling his sobs with one hand. Lydia gave into the impulse of hugging him, holding him when he seemed to be about to collapse. She wiped at her own tears and took a deep breath before pulling away.

"This grief that has been plaguing him for years now," she began, "this pain and guilt is precisely what made the Nogitsune target him. After Stiles, Scott and Allison did the sacrifice to find the nemeton, they all experienced a darkness. In Stiles's case, it seems that it allowed the Nogitsune to slowly take control of his mind. Out of the three, he was the most vulnerable one. The Nogitsune is feeding off of Stiles's worst feelings. If only we could cut off that supply, then maybe we could somehow bring him back, weaken the Nogitsune's grip on his mind."

The Sheriff seemed to calm down, nodding as she spoke. "And how do you plan to do that?"

Lydia shrugged. "I'm not sure. I keep imagining a way to access Stiles's mind, being able to communicate with him, tell him that we miss him, that we need him, that we love him."

She bit her lip, feeling the scrutinizing eyes of the Sheriff upon her. She shrugged again, as if she were just thinking out loud, saying things at random. But he just nodded.

"You mean like in Inception?"

She nodded quickly, off-handedly. "Yeah, sure, something like that."

"Can you do that?"

"I don't know. I could try…"

He stared at her, a curious expression on his face, and she felt herself going red. She pushed her hair behind her ears awkwardly and shrugged.

"It's just an idea."

* * *

When Lydia and the Sheriff rejoined the others inside, Scott seemed to be finally feeling better, and starting to heal properly, and he was able to talk. He explained that the Nogitsune tricked them by showing up in the backyard, and Scott had been fooled by inside jokes and sarcastic remarks coming out of the mouth of a weakened, injured Stiles Stilinki. Scott was about to call Deaton, but as soon as his mom ran upstairs to get the first aid kit, the Nogitsune had attacked Scott.

"It told me that it had noticed that we were following the game of headman, hunter and fox," Scott explained. "It said that the game was only a distraction, a way to make us think that we could figure out what it was thinking, what it was planning. It was merely a way to keep us all on our toes, to keep us on edge, to create chaos. But ultimately it just wanted some of us out of the way. Especially Kira and I."

He looked pointedly at Kira, who looked not the least bit surprised; she rather looked resigned.

"The only thing that occurred to me at that moment was to get it as far away from everyone as possible. So I ran, hoping that it would follow me. It kinda did," Scott glanced at him mom with a pained expression. "I'm just really glad that you just got barricaded, and not hurt."

Melissa stroked his mud-matted hair and kissed him on the forehead.

"It followed me into the forest. I kept trying to put as much distance between me and it, and between us and the town. I didn't want anyone else to get involved. I thought I could face him, too, but... it's Stiles. I mean, it's not Stiles but it is. I couldn't simply ignore the fact that the Nogitsune looks and sounds just like my best friend. So I couldn't do anything. I couldn't fight back. It nearly killed me, and I couldn't put up a fight. I just couldn't... It's stronger than I could've ever imagined."

Scott rubbed his face. "If it hadn't been for Lydia and Deaton I'm pretty sure it would have killed me."

"It could have killed the three of you," the Sheriff said.

"We were lucky," Deaton agreed. "We are running out of time and out of options. The Nogitsune is not going to stop coming after you, until it gets rid of all of you. You're the only ones who can stop it. So either it succeeds, or we succeed."

"What are we going to do, then?" Isaac asked.

"Well, we can't really do much tonight, except make sure that Scott is safe until he heals completely. We also need to keep Kira safe. She has yet a very important role to fulfill."

Lydia started breathing harder. Kira seethed.

"What role? Killing Stiles?"

"_Coup de foudre_," "Noshiko said quickly. Everyone looked confused.

"What is that?" Kira asked.

"It means literally 'bolt of lightning'," Noshiko explained. "It's the only thing that can destroy the Nogitsune. It's what forged the katana that killed it the first time. You are a Thunder kitsune. You alone could repair the katana after it was broken; you alone can now wield the power of the katana. So you alone have the power to destroy the Nogitsune."

Kira looked down at the sword with an expression of awe and fear.

I'm not going to kill an innocent person just to fix the mistake you made years ago."

"Kira, I can't undo what is already done! The only thing I can do is try to fix it!" Noshiko nearly yelled. "And this is the only way."

"I have an idea," Lydia spoke up, sounding a lot less nervous than she felt. Everyone watched her intently, and suddenly she felt calm and collected.

"Mrs. Yukimura, I think you're missing an important difference. When you summoned the Nogitsune, instead of possessing you, it possessed the body of a dead person."

"Yes," Noshiko confirmed curiously.

"In this case, the Nogitsune's host is our friend, who is alive," Lydia pointed out. "Couldn't that make a big difference in the way that we handle this?"

Noshiko Yukimura didn't say anything. She and Mr. Yukimura exchanged a long glance before looking at Deaton, who was tapping his chin thoughtfully.

"I think Lydia may be onto something," he said after a pause. "If we could access Stiles's mind, get in touch with him in a direct, subconscious level, we could try to separate the two entities. I don't know how we would still manage to exorcise the Nogitsune from his body, but… I'll have to study up on that."

"Have you done it before?" the Sheriff asked. Deaton shook his head.

"Not exactly."

"Very well," Noshiko said. "You work on that, and Kira will work on controlling her powers and learning to use the katana. One way or another, we must put an end to this."

Kira looked worriedly at Scott and Lydia.

"I'll figure something out," Kira stated in a low voice, turning to leave. Her parents followed her out.

"_Coup de foudre,_" Lydia muttered under her breath. "It also means… 'love at first sight'.

"What does that... have to do with anything?" Scott asked. Lydia looked around at the faces of the others. The Sheriff met her eyes for a fleeting moment, and her mouth suddenly went dry.

"I'm..." she started, feeling a little light-headed all of a sudden. "I have to go."

"I'll drive you," Derek said, following her before she could object.

* * *

"You're awfully quiet," Derek said, taking his eyes off the road to glance at Lydia for a moment. She didn't look at him, merely staring out the window determinately.

"I know what you're thinking," he said after a pause. Lydia frowned at him.

"You can't possibly know what I'm thinking."

"Okay, fine, but I have a pretty good idea." He gave her a sideways glance and continued.

"I know you're nervous. I am too."

She looked at him again, and he seemed uncomfortable. "Well, it's not like I've faced a Nogitsune before. This is something that none of us have confronted before, so I guess it's safe to say that none of us know what we're doing."

He turned into her street and drove a little slower. "Like I said before, it may seem hard to believe, but I really don't want anything bad to happen to Stiles. Nor do the others. I'm pretty sure Scott and the Sheriff would rather get killed themselves. And Kira already said that she won't be a part of it. It didn't quite work for Noshiko, anyway, so I support whatever you might try to do."

"I don't even know what I'm doing," she said meekly, as Derek stopped in front of her house.

"Of course you do. You're getting to the root of the problem, instead of just diving into battle like most of us do," he said pointedly. "That's your style, and that's thinking like the fox more than anything else. The Nogitsune and Stiles are one and the same right now. Find a way to separate them." He looked at her reassuringly. "You of all people can do this, Lydia. You're smart, you're meticulous. You just need to start trusting your instinct more often. Kira may be the only one with the power to destroy the Nogitsune, but you're basically the only person who can really figure out how to save Stiles."

Lydia nodded slowly, feeling heavy-hearted. Derek sounded a bit like the Sheriff. _If there's one person I trust to find Stiles, it's you._ Well, Lydia had already found him; the problem was that he was not himself, and she didn't know quite how to turn him back.

But maybe the idea that she had wasn't as crazy as she had thought.

She smiled gratefully and got out of the car, heading down the path up to her door.

* * *

That night, Lydia couldn't think about anything else except the time that she kissed Stiles.

She had been too surprised at her own impulse, that she had denied herself any chance to think about that ever since. Until now.

Lydia couldn't really explain why she had done it. A spur of the moment thing, a quick-witted solution, or something that she just really, subconsciously wanted to do.

Whatever the reason, she hadn't really expected to be thinking so hard about it weeks after it happened, analyzing every detail of it. At that moment of utter panic, it was like switching off everything else and just letting herself go.

And as soon as the moment had been over, she had felt ashamed. Stiles had become her friend, they had been through a lot in a very short time, and kissing him like that felt a little like taking advantage of him, of the crush he claimed to have on her since the third grade. Lydia had only intended to help; she didn't mean to make him think that she might have feelings for him too.

Because she… didn't… did she?

What if she did?

She paced around her room incessantly. This had been precisely what she had been trying to keep herself from thinking about. It was too complicated and too painful. What if she did have feelings for Stiles? Then she was even more screwed than she currently felt. It did no good to realize her feelings for someone when she was about to lose them.

This was Jackson all over again. Except that it felt a million times worse.

She wished that was a hyperbole, but it wasn't. She was a different person now.

Lydia let out a sob. She was scared and sad and horribly confused. It had been a while since she had allowed herself to feel anything for anyone, after Jackson had dumped her unceremoniously. Had she really loved him? She wasn't sure anymore. Even when he had been killed and she had been devastated, it didn't compare to the fear she was dealing with right now.

She didn't know what to do. What if Deaton said that it couldn't be done? That there was no hope after all?

Wiping tears from her face, she picked up her phone and texted Allison. Her friend was still in the hospital until further notice, but she needed to talk to someone. She needed her best friend.

_"I think I might be in love with Stiles."_

She reread the simple message once and sent it. She sat on the edge of her bed, hugging herself and trying to control the spasms of her body. She waited for a long time, but there was no reply. Allison was probably asleep by now.

Lydia put her phone on her bedside table and cried herself to sleep, pressing her face into her pillow until it was wet with her tears.

* * *

She sat up in bed, in time to see Stiles hold out a hand and open the door to his room. They were in his room. This was that dream again.

"Stiles?" Lydia called groggily. Stiles didn't look at her, and pulled the door further open.

"Don't, Stiles!" she pleaded desperately, jumping up and off the bed. "Please, Stiles, DON'T!"

She seemed to move in slow motion, like she was trying to run on a slippery surface, and barely advanced even two feet before he disappeared into the blackness beyond the door. The door swung shut with a thunderous boom.

Lydia started banging on the wood, over the sound coming from the other side of the door. It sounded like a series of explosions, and a deafening crackling and buzzing.

"Wake up, Lydia!" she shouted as loudly as she could over the noise. "It's not real! This is just a dream, Lydia! Wake up, Lydia! WAKE UP!"

* * *

"Wake up, Lydia…" a voice said. Someone was grasping her arm and trying to shake her gently. She shot up in bed like a spring and gasped.

"Hey," Allison said, with a big smile and big eyes. Lydia's eyes were equally big.

"What—how—what are you doing here?" she stammered, rubbing her eyes and staring in disbelief.

"I told my dad that I was fine and that it was about time I was released from the hospital," Allison explained nonchalantly. "He wanted me to stay there the entire weekend. I mean, honestly! Besides," she pushed Lydia's hair behind her ear, "you need me more right now, and I'm not the kind of friend who would ditch her best friend when said best friend just realized her feelings for another friend and needs to save him from certain death."

Lydia chuckled and shook her head. "I honestly don't know what I feel."

"I think you do," Allison said, nodded and grinning like an over-excited toddler. "And all I have to say about that is it's about time! Good lord, Lydia, does the boy really have to be in mortal peril for you to figure out that you might love him?"

"I really regret sending you that message now," Lydia said with a groan and felt a pang of fear. She would've laughed or been completely mortified at this whole conversation if this had been a different situation, but they were up against something very dark and very real, and they were short of time, and she still had no idea if there was any way to fix everything.

"Come on. You can sit down and think about your feelings later. Right now, we have to save our friend," Allison announced, getting up. She was dressed for battle, with a sturdy jacket and sturdy boots and with more gadgets and weapons than Lydia could count. "Get dressed. I already talked to Scott. We're all meeting at Deaton's clinic."

What time was it? Lydia glanced at her bedside alarm clock. It was almost five. The sun was still well hidden, and it looked cold outside. Lydia stood up and dashed to the bathroom.

"Wait, how did you get in here?" she asked suddenly.

"Window. How else do warrior princesses get into any building?" Allison joked, gesturing to herself. Lydia rolled her eyes and smiled as she hurried to take a shower.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, they were driving back to the veterinarian clinic. Lydia had never gotten ready so fast in her entire life. She still felt sleepy, but Deaton promised coffee, so she guessed she'd be fine in a few minutes.

Allison glanced at her ever so often. "You okay?"

Lydia didn't respond right away, but eventually shook her head. "Hopefully I will be. Maybe sometime later today."

They pulled into the parking lot. It looked like nighttime still, and eerily quiet. Allison sat in the car for a moment, and so did Lydia. She was too scared to go inside, scared to see what Deaton had to say about her half-concocted plan, scared that everyone would have come to the conclusion that there was no hope after all of solving things without bloodshed. She was just too scared.

"Lydia," Allison said, sensing her friend's distress, "it's going to be okay. I may not have a gift like you, but I can feel it, I really can. We can do this."

Lydia nodded quietly and they both left the car.

Inside the clinic, it was light and oddly cozy. Everyone Lydia expected to see were already there: Scott and Isaac were already there; so were Derek and the twins. Sheriff Stilinski and Melissa McCall were sipping coffee quietly, side by side. Chris Argent had even more weapons than Allison, which made Lydia feel very uneasy.

"They're non-lethal, I promise," Allison whispered, seeing Lydia gulp visibly.

"Are we gonna get going or what?" Derek asked impatiently.

The back door opened, and Kira walked in, followed by her mother.

"Sorry I'm late. I was up all night getting my Kitsune on," Kira said excitedly, brandishing the katana before sheathing it at her hip.

"Let's get our plan straight first," Deaton announced, coming out of his little office. "The plan is to find and confront the Nogitsune, engage it in a fight and neutralize it long enough to bring it here. Once it's in our power, we're going to perform a process similar to the sacrifice you did," he said, glancing at Allison and Scott. "Only instead of accessing your own memories, you'll be accessing Stiles's mind. We will need an anchor for each of you too."

"But-" Lydia started, and suddenly everyone was looking at her. "I just… I thought I was going to do that."

Deaton nodded. "You will. But you can't go in there alone. Scott will be there with you. Allison can be your anchor, and Melissa will be his."

Allison grabbed Lydia's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"Remember: going under means that you will be in the brink of death. That is the only way. And also, when you enter Stiles's mind, you will be at the mercy of the Nogitsune itself. If what we've encountered is any evidence, it means that right now Stiles's mind is more void than Stiles. You need to be careful, and you need to work fast."

"But what are we supposed to do once we're in?" Scott asked anxiously.

"You have to find Stiles and bring him back. He's somewhere in his own mind, being stifled by the void. You have to help him overcome that."

"Yeah, I get that, but how?"

Deaton sighed. "I'm not sure."This is something that I have never done before. In a way, it should work differently every time, depending on the person. You know Stiles best, so you should be able to figure it out."

Lydia and Scott exchanged glances. She swallowed the lump forming in her throat and nodded. Scott gave her a faint smile.

"Is there anything else we should know?" Aiden asked.

Deaton grabbed his briefcase, containing presumably some Letharia Vulpina, just in case. He turned to the group and looked very serious.

"Don't give it a chance to kill you."

* * *

They set off. It was still quite dark outside, but the sky was starting to look a few shades lighter. Dawn was upon them. The chilly air bit at their faces as they got into several cars and drove to the edge of the forest.

"Are we sure he's even here?" Ethan asked, glancing at the eerie cluster of trees in front of them, as they got out at the entrance of Beacon Hills Reserve. The light from the headlights filtered through the trees and shone into the forest a few feet ahead of them, but dissolved into the pitch darkness further in.

Lydia nodded. "Yes, it's here." She didn't mention the fact that there was a heavy feeling gripping her at the moment, as if something terrible was about to happen. She didn't hear anything, though, there was no out-of-place sound driving her crazy in her mind, so she couldn't be sure if it was really one of her 'banshee' feelings or if she was just incredibly nervous and afraid.

Deaton, the Sheriff and Melissa would wait for them there. They had no weapons to defend themselves properly against the Nogitsune. They would wait for the others to do their part, and then aid them when it was time to execute the other part of the plan.

With a heavy heart, they set off toward the Nemeton.

"Do you think it's expecting us?" Isaac asked.

"I think it's clever enough to know that we're not going to give up so easy, so yes, I think it's expecting us any moment now," Mrs. Yukimura said.

Lydia couldn't tell how much time passed since they parted toward the Nemeton, or whether they were heading in the right direction. The werewolves were leading the way, so she trusted they knew where they were going.

She suddenly stopped walking and stood very still.

"Lydia? What is it?" Allison asked, stopping next to her friend. Everyone turned to her.

"You don't hear that, do you?" Lydia whispered.

"Hear what?" Scott asked.

"A voice."

"Is it Stiles?"

Lydia swallowed hard. "The Nogitsune," she whispered.

"What does it say?" Mrs. Yukimura asked.

Lydia started shaking. "It says… 'don't move an inch'."

"Or..." the voice said loud enough this time for everyone to hear, and the Nogitsune materialized from the darkness at Lydia's shoulder, hands at either side of her jaw, "I will break her neck."

* * *

_I'm still in shock. Does anyone else feel like they've had their hearts ripped out of their chests? _

_For what is worth, Allison lives in my story. I would've killed the twins. Especially Aiden. Stupid Aiden who keeps hanging around Lydia. I had such high hopes when the twins were in the forest..._

_-Vale._


	12. Chapter 12

It looks like I might just make it after all. *knock on wood*

I'm sorry for the delay, but I've been horribly busy. It seems my life keeps getting in the way of my guilty pleasures, and it's not like it's even that interesting… Darn it!

I would like to apologise in advance for the reaction this episode might elicit. For what it's worth, it's not over yet.

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf, but if I did, I still wouldn't have killed ALLISON OH MY GOD HOW COULD YOU DO THAT JEFF HOW DO YOU LIVE WITH YOURSELF HOW DO YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT HUH? HUH?!

* * *

**Found**

Chapter 12

_by HappyValentina_

Everyone obeyed. Lydia saw out of the corner of her eye the silhouette of the Nogitsune's face. Stiles's face. He definitely didn't look like himself: he was paler than usual, his eyes looked sunken, surrounded by huge dark circled, and his lips were stretched into a manic grin.

Lydia gasped in surprise as she felt the Nogitsune's grip tighten around her neck, and she tried to move with it, tried to level herself with the hands threatening to strangle her or snap her neck without warning.

"That's right. You come into my territory, so you're going to have to abide by my rules," it said in a cold voice, like a whisper. "This isn't a game anymore. Maybe it never was."

The others stood absolutely still, watching carefully, expectantly. Kira and her mother exchanged a fleeting look.

"Very well, I'll tell you how this is going to work. I'm going to take her with me, and you follow me if you think you can outsmart me in this 'game'," it sneered, pulling her along effortlessly. No one moved, only following them with their eyes. Allison's grip on her bow tightened, and the werewolves already had their claws out.

The Nogitsune smiled at the sight. "I'm not really going to break her neck. What would be the fun of that? I prefer to do things like this," it said, and immediately caught Lydia's arm, pulling it back and up so far behind her back that she was sure it was going to snap right off. She screamed in pain, although it wasn't as loud as she usually screamed. Somehow she managed to contain herself just that little bit; she wasn't about to give it the pleasure of knowing how much it was really overpowering her.

"So deliciously comforting, wouldn't you say?" it said in a hoarse whisper. "Don't you see, Lydia? You scream because you feel it with every nerve in your body. It's an indicator that you're still alive. Doesn't it make you feel so alive?"

She squeezed her eyes shut, tears spilling from the corners, but she didn't respond. She willed herself to be quiet. Knowing that her suffering gave it pleasure made her all that more intent on holding it in.

But she couldn't see where she was going, because it was pulling her along and leading her backwards, and in that position she could only really see up at the trees and not much else. She was afraid to try. She couldn't hear the others, nor could she hear the Nogitsune. All of a sudden, all she could perceive were whispers, and they weren't in English or any other language that she knew. They were in Japanese, and they grew louder as they advanced.

The Nogitsune released her, and she found herself in the clearing where the Nemeton was located. By some weird power, the Nogitsune had transported her in a flash. She stumbled a little at the roots and landed on her knees, her hands scraping on the edges of the stump.

"No, no, no..." she mumbled to herself, pushing herself up to her feet. She turned around sharply, to see the Nogitsune fiddling with something a few feet away.

"Where is everyone?" she asked.

"They can't keep up. But don't worry, they'll be here soon enough. They know the way," the Nogitsune said in that hollow voice as it lifted different objects to its nose and sniffed long and profound. It was only then that Lydia realized that the thing it was fiddling with was her bag, and the objects were all from inside. At the moment, the Nogitsune put back a packet of chewing gum and retrieved something else.

"What's this?" it said in a mock curious voice as it held it up. It was her drawing. "You made this, didn't you? And he framed this for you?"

The Nogitsune aww'd in an even colder voice, no trace of even fake tenderness upon its face. Lydia almost reached out to ask for the drawing back, but didn't out of fear of the Nogitsune destroying it just to hurt her; she looked at it as nonchalantly as possible.

"Such a sweet gesture from someone who is merely a friend, and he doesn't expect anything in return. Or is it?" the Nogitsune continued. It stared long and hard at Lydia, who tried to hold the chilling gaze, but she eventually had to look away.

"How tragic, isn't it?" it continued, approaching her slowly. "Isn't it?"

She gripped the edge of the Nemeton to steady herself as she watched it come closer. She wanted to bolt, but she couldn't. She wouldn't. This is not Stiles, this is not Stiles, she told herself. But Stiles was somewhere in there. She couldn't bolt.

As if reading her thoughts, the Nogitsune walked slowly around her, lips puckered into a fake pout. "Poor, poor Stiles, always there for his friends, always risking his life and putting himself in harm's way, for the sake of someone else. He always seems to know what to do, he always comes up with the best ideas. But nobody ever quite appreciates it," it taunted. "Poor, weak, unfortunate Stiles. Everyone just sees him as a burden, as a liability. Because he's too frail, too disposable, too… human."

Lydia shook her head minutely, turning her face away.

"What do you think is going to happen now, Lydia? What have I told you? Stiles is dying. Even if I chose another host right now and left him alone, he'd be even weaker, even sicker, even more hopeless. Are all of you so willing to risk your lives to save someone who cannot be saved?"

"Don't listen to it, Lydia," Scott warned her, emerging from the left side of the forest and into the clearing, followed closely by Derek. Isaac and the twins positioned themselves on the other side of the clearing; Chris and Allison appeared behind the Nogitsune's line of sight, and Kira and her mother on the opposite side, facing the Nogitsune.

They were surrounded. But the Nogitsune didn't look one bit threatened.

"Well, well, so glad to have you join us," it said with a wide grin. The Nogitsune turned one last time toward Lydia and handed her the framed drawing with a little bow of its head. It then stood back and looked around at the others.

"I only really want to get rid of Scott and the young Kitsune, but if they all insist on getting involved, I'm left with no choice but to kill them all, one by one, starting with you," it said, pointing at Mrs. Yukimura. "And when there's no one left to stop me, I'm going to kill Melissa, and then the Sheriff, and finally I'm going to kill you, Lydia," it looked at Lydia darkly. "And I'm going to do it slowly, painfully, but just before you draw your last breath, I'm going to leave this body, I'm going to leave Stiles alone, so that Stiles can see the part he played on the death of everyone he loved."

Lydia instinctively shot forward, without any sort of weapon, wanting to hurt the Nogitsune in some way. The Nogitsune merely caught her by the throat and slammed her down with her back to the ground, knocking the wind out of her. It held her in place, until a cacophony of war cries forced it to look up. It stood up in a flash, releasing Lydia, and blocked two blows coming from either side. Derek and Isaac flew back and landed about ten feet back. The fist moved impossibly fast, knocking Scott and the twins clean off their feet. The torso moved out of the way of the katana, and the hands closed around Kira's wrists, catapulting her over its head. Kira fell to the ground with a yelp and the katana flew out of her hands.

There was a twang and a gun shot. The Nogitsune caught Allison's arrow midair as it jumped out of the way of Chris's bullet.

Mrs. Yukimura stepped forward and held up an object. It was one of the 'tails'. Without warning she broke it, and a few sparks shot out of it. A split second later, five familiar figures materialized in front of her, facing the Nogitsune, who seemed amused.

"Noshiko, have you learned nothing?" it asked, as the Oni unsheathed their swords and assumed battle stances.

It like watching shadows dance. Lydia helped Kira sit up and they both crawled out of the way, and they were hypnotized by the black smoke moving around as the Oni each took on the Nogitsune. But the Nogitsune barely had to fight back. It quickly did away with each of them, reaching into their chests one by one and removing something from their middle, which promptly made them vanish into thin air.

As soon as they were all obliterated, the Nogitsune looked at Mrs. Yukimura defiantly.

"Is that the best you've got?" it demanded, shouting. "Come on, Noshiko! Try again!"

Mrs. Yukimura seemed to recoil slightly.

"You did it once, you can do it again. Or wait..." the Nogitsune smiled knowingly, "you didn't really succeed last time, did you? I'm still here. Perhaps you didn't have what it takes to get rid of me."

"Perhaps I don't," Mrs. Yukimura agreed, and glanced at Kira. "But there is somebody who does."

Kira stood squarely with her katana gripped tightly in her hands and stared the Nogitsune down. The Nogitsune gave a mirthless chuckle.

"Indeed there is," it said. "Come on, little fox. Show me what you're made of."

Lydia gasped when she looked at Kira again. The girl's eyes glowed amber, and there was electricity coming out of her fingertips and traveling up and down the blade of the katana.

"That's what I'm talking about," the Nogitsune declared before starting forward.

* * *

Lydia sat on the ground, frozen, watching as Kira, apparently unleashing her Thunder Kitsune, and the Nogitsune clashed. Every once in a while, it jumped out of the way of the blade.

Scott rushed toward Lydia, trying to make her move further out of harm's way, but Lydia was transfixed by the battle. Stiles moved with a fluidity and speed that was just inhuman. No, not Stiles; the Nogitsune. Kira could barely keep up, but she began to display superhuman qualities as well, as if her power were growing or revealing itself before their very eyes. But every time she seemed to have the upper hand, the Nogitsune deflected every blow with ease and hit back. And every hit looked painful.

Kira landed on her stomach one time and just lay there, her arms struggling for purchase to get back up. There was blood coming out of her nose.

Scott left Lydia's side and rushed toward the Nogitsune, but it was clear he still lacked determination. He hadn't even transformed completely. He just couldn't attack the Nogitsune as hard as he wished, not while it still looked like his best friend. It only made it that much easier for the Nogitsune to send him flying again. Scott landed with a sickening thud at the foot of a tree.

The twins rushed forward in unison. They engaged the Nogitsune for a bit, one keeping it busy on one end while the other attacked from behind. But it was like the Nogitsune possessed eyes on the back of its head, because it deflected every single blow. They couldn't touch it. They still looked shocked as it sent them flying in the same direction as Scott. Aiden's head connected with the tree trunk and he fell unconscious. His brother crawled over to him in pain and cradled his head in his lap.

Suddenly Derek and Kira had engaged the Nogitsune at the same time, having the same difficulty as the twins at landing a single blow. At the same time, Allison shot a string of arrows, but none of them hit their target. Chris didn't shoot with the same confidence; he seemed to be afraid to hit Kira or Derek. One time, however, he was successful.

Lydia screamed.

The Nogitsune howled with pain and stopped. It turned toward the hunter, face twisted with pain and anger, but it promptly lifted a hand toward the shoulder, where the bullet had entered, and dug its fingers into the wound. With a sickening growl, it pulled the bullet out, and the bullet turned to black smoke in its palm.

"Bullets can't hurt it," Mrs. Yukimura said.

"Could have mentioned that before," Chris replied.

"I did!"

"Kira!" Derek called, just as the Nogitsune gave a swipe at him, which knocked him down. Kira stumbled forward, breathing hard, and stabbed at the Nogitsune, but it dodged the blade just in time. It grabbed Kira by the neck with one arm and held her down, choking her, while it used its other arm to pick up Derek and toss him with superhuman strength over the heads of the Argents. Allison and Chris crouched down as the werewolf hit and snapped a tree in half. Isaac sprinted forward and pushed both father and daughter out of the way just as the tree fell on the spot they had just left.

"STOP IT!" Lydia shouted, as the Nogitsune continued to strangle Kira, looking maniacal. Lydia shook her head quickly, trying to think of something to do. She could only scream, as loudly as she could.

Suddenly there they were, Lydia thought. She could see them. The Kitsune. The mythical Japanese creatures in both of them, snarling at each other. They were like auras surrounding their bodies. Kira's was a yellowish orange fox with only one tail. The Nogitsune was black, just like the name implied, a smoky dark shadow surrounding Stiles's body. It had nine tails. The size of each was proportional to its power. While Kira's Kitsune aura looked just slightly bigger than her body, the Nogitsune seemed to fill the entire clearing, casting a large shadow over everything even as the sun began to rise.

"My god, it's huge," Lydia whispered to herself, terrified. How could Mrs. Yukimura thought her daughter could ever have taken on such a creature? She stood no chance.

"KIRA!" Scott shouted, struggling to get up. He looked wounded. Was he not healing?

"Kira! _Coup de foudre_!" Mrs. Yukimura shouted.

Kira, gasping and choking, stopped trying to reach for her blade, and instead shut her eyes. When she opened them again, they were glowing even brighter. Sparks were starting to fly out of her skin. The Thunder Kitsune seemed to gather strength and momentum, and suddenly there was an electrical discharge that lit up the clearing. Lydia shielded her eyes, as did everyone else.

The Nogitsune released her after a moment, jumping back, either startled or with the force of the discharge. Kira panted loudly and tried to stand up quickly, but the Nogitsune charged forward again. It picked Kira up and tossed her back, but she seemed to right herself in the air and landed on her feet. She seemed to be getting the hang of it, even if she looked worse for wear by now.

"A worthy opponent, finally," the Nogitsune declared, smiling with satisfaction. Kira didn't respond, just shot forward again, electricity flowing through her fists connected with the Nogitsune over and over, even as it simply blocked them. It wasn't enough, but every time she tried, it seemed her power grew stronger.

Lydia sat by, horrified, wonder what was going to happen next. What if Kira finally managed a discharge strong enough to neutralize the Nogitsune, or worse still, kill it? What would happen to Stiles? There was no way a human body could survive something like that. It was like being struck by lightning.

All the electricity took its toll on the clearing itself. The dry leaves blanketing the ground started to catch fire, spreading them slowly and steadily toward the trees. Chris, Allison and Isaac tried to suffocate the flames, but new ones sprouted every few feet. Soon enough, the clearing was practically ablaze.

"Lydia! We have to get out of here!' Scott shouted, limping toward her. He tried to pick her up, but she pulled back, shaking her head.

"What? No! Scott, we have to stay here!"

"Lydia, the fire is getting bigger! You'll get hurt!"

"Scott!" Isaac shouted from across the clearing. He and Chris were carrying an unconscious Derek away. Allison and Ethan were carrying Aiden.

"Lydia, please!" Scott begged.

"No, Scott! We have to stay! Stiles needs us! We have to wait a little longer! We can do this!"

"Lydia, if I let something happen to you, Stiles would never forgive me!"

"There will be no more Stiles if we don't stay here and wait!"

Just as she said that, Kira seemed to falter, even as she sent a bolt of lightning cruising all over the Nogitsune's body. The clothes on Stiles's body were scorched all over, and his skin bore terrible reddish marks. But the Nogitsune looked relentless. Kira, however, looked like she was about to faint, and she fell back, landing on her side like a rag doll.

"No..." Lydia whispered, shaking her head. "No, Kira... No, NO!"

She raced forward, instinctively, impulsively, as the Nogitsune seemed poised to deliver a final blow down onto Kira.

"NO!" Scott shouted, following her. He wouldn't make it in time.

The Nogitsune was about to strike at Lydia with all its might, and she braced herself for the blow, screaming her banshee scream. The Nogitsune halted just inches away from her.

She looked at it, surprised, and stared in horror down at the blade sticking out of Stiles's chest. The Nogitsune looked down at it, fuming with anger, and then back up. Lydia and Scott looked over their shoulders. Mrs. Yukimura was breathing heavily, having thrown the katana just in time and with great accuracy. It was the last resort.

"No..." Lydia whispered again, hands trembling as it tried to grab the katana by the hilt, but the Nogitsune stepped back, out of reach. It gritted its teeth and howled in pain as it pulled the sword out itself, and tossed it on the ground.

"This... isn't... over..." it growled, breathing with difficulty, as dark liquid oozed from the wound. "Far from it..." it said, weaker.

Scott grabbed Lydia and pulled her back, just as the Nogitsune's eyes turned pitch black. Dark, thick smoke started ebbing out of them, as well as out of its mouth, and the stab wound in its middle. The dark fox aura seemed to fold into itself for a moment, then expanded rapidly, sending a gust of wind in every direction out of the clearing, like the shock wave of an explosion. Scott, Lydia and Mrs. Yukimura fell back with the force of it; the remaining fires were put out by it, and even some trees were knocked down.

Lydia looked back at the Nogitsune, or what seemed to remain of it. The dark smoke suddenly stopped oozing, and instead was absorbed rapidly back into Stiles's body, as well as the dispersed aura of the dark fox. It was like an vacuum now, like the Nogitsune was imploding, and all the darkness was suddenly absorbed back into the source, very fast and very forcefully. Lydia stared, transfixed, as the last of the black smoke disappeared into the black hole, and everything went very still.

The body fell limply back with a finality that she had not expected. She hesitated before moving forward, but it was really completely still. So she rushed forward.

"Did it... did it work?" Kira asked weakly from where she lay. Mrs. Yukimura fell to her side and pulled her daughter's body into her lap. Scott stared at them for a moment, before following Lydia.

"I don't know, I... I don't know," Mrs. Yukimura stammered, uncertain. "Where's the fly? Where is it? It didn't come out. I don't understand. The last time..."

"What are you talking about?"

"There's a fly! It should be there! If we really defeated it, it should come out. Check his mouth,"

"Stiles?" Lydia said, kneeling beside the boy. She was afraid to touch him. It could be a trick, or she could hurt him. Stiles, if it was indeed just Stiles now, looked like he needed medical help right away. "Stiles, can you hear me? Scott, help me," she said, her hands shaking.

Scott knelt beside him as well and grabbed his friend's mouth, gently opening it. "I- I don't see anything. Are you sure?"

Mrs. Yukimura looked down at her daughter, shaking her head slowly. Kira coughed and sat up carefully. Lydia sighed with relief to see her friend was okay, then looked down at Stiles again.

"Stiles? Stiles, please," she said softly, reaching out to touch his face. It was cold. He was cold all over. His lips looked disturbingly pale. Her breath caught in her throat.

"Stiles," she muttered again, putting two trembling fingers under his jaw, right where his pulse would be. There was nothing.

"No... No. Stiles?" she said, more desperately this time, leaning down to put her ear to his chest. It was silent. Scott started shaking his head.

"What? No," he said, grabbing his friend by the shoulders and shaking him. "Stiles? Stiles, wake up, buddy. It's over. It's over! Stiles?"

Lydia almost went into shock, but she shook her head violently and pushed Scott away and remembered what to do. She pinched his nose and held his jaw and blew twice into Stiles's mouth, then put her hands over his chest and began pumping with the butts of her palms, rhythmically, rapidly, about thirty times, before blowing into his mouth again.

Scott grabbed at his hair in panic. "What have you done?!" he shouted angrily at Mrs. Yukimura, who just sat there, still shaking her head. Kira stood up on wobbly feet and approached the others, watching them with wide eyes.

"Mom, what did you do?" she gasped in disbelief.

Lydia continued to work, pumping relentlessly at Stiles's chest. She had performed CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation so many times on dolls, but never on a real person. Never in a real emergency. She had been so proud of learning how to do it, but it wasn't working. It wasn't working.

"Come on, Stiles..." she said breathlessly, starting to feel tired. Maybe she wasn't strong enough, but she had to be. She just had to be. "Please..." she said, feeling hot tears welling up in her eyes as she leaned down again and blew twice into his lips. "Please," she said more forcefully, pumping thirty times again. She checked his pulse. Nothing.

"No..."

"Lydia..."

"No... no..."

"Lydia, he's gone... he's..."

Scott started crying, choking with his own sobs. He shook his head and rocked back and forth as he watched Lydia work.

"Lydia, he's dead. He's gone," he managed to say between sobs. Lydia shook her head.

"No, no, no... he can't be dead. He can't be... I didn't feel it..." she muttered, sounding nonsensical. Kira tried to pull her back gently.

"Lydia, please, just..." she begged, crying quietly. "I'm so sorry, Lydia. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, Lydia," Mrs. Yukimura said, standing up slowly. "I did what I had to do to save you. He would've killed you."

Lydia paused and looked at her. She looked blankly at Scott and at Kira, at their crying faces, and couldn't understand how they had given up.

"No, NO!" she shouted, squirming out of Kira's grasp as the girl tried to pull her back again, tried to lead her away. Lydia leaned over Stiles's body and started banging her fist down onto his chest with all her might.

"Lydia, stop!" Scott begged. Lydia didn't hear him. She had to try. Nobody had taught her that, she had seen it in movies and looked it up on the Internet. She knew what she was doing. This time it would work.

But after several attempts, Stiles did not open his eyes. He didn't gasp for air or move an inch. He just lay there, dead.

"Stiles, come on!" she shouted, over and over, her fist hurting horribly by now. She started crying, shaking with her sobs, her vision blurred by her tears. "Please..." she begged weakly. She was tired, both physically and mentally. But she didn't go into shock; no, unfortunately she was very aware of what was happening. The Nogitsune had been right.

They couldn't save Stiles. She couldn't save him.

She watched Scott pull Stiles's body into his lap and hug him and weep into his brother's neck. She felt her entire body go cold and numb, and a horrible pain erupt in her chest. She felt Kira's hands on her shoulders, trying to be comforting. She heard her own feeble cries breaking the silence.

* * *

_I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY_

_*Runs and hides until next chapter*_

_I'm on a roll, I swear, this will not stay like this for long, I promise, please don't kill me!_

_-Vale._


	13. Chapter 13

_I'm back, as I promised. I just finished writing this while waiting for the episode to finish downloading. Stupid slow internet! You're doing this on purpose, I know it! I'm dying here!_

_Well, I didn't quite make it before the season finale, but whatever happens in this episode, I'm still going to finish this story. Seriously, I'm so close. And I'm not a quitter. I hope you still continue reading it, regardless of the trauma we suffer at the hands of Jeff Davis and his stupid stupid show. _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf. But if I did, I wouldn't be as cruel as that JEFF DAVIS YOU SON OF A B**** I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR KILLING ALLISON I WILL NEVER GET OVER IT I WILL FIND YOU AND I WILL KILL YOU FOR BREAKING MY HEART LIKE THIS. _

* * *

**Found**

Chapter 13

_by HappyValentina_

"Scott? Lydia?"

Someone ran into the clearing. It was Allison. She ran in, wielding her bow with an arrow locked in position. She glanced around quickly.

"What happened? Is everyone okay?" she asked, rushing over to them. She skidded to a stop and covered her mouth with her hands and started shaking her head. Her eyes immediately welled with tears and she gasped several times before she started crying.

"Oh my god..." she said under her breath, standing beside Lydia. "Scott..."

"I... I'm..." Scott tried to speak, but he was still sobbing too hard. "I can't..."

There was a silence, filled only with the sound of sobbing. Mrs. Yukimura spoke finally.

"We must go," she said, more like a command. Scott looked at her, his eyes almost glowing red with anger.

"SHUT UP! YOU DID THIS!" he yelled madly.

"Scott, we have to go. We still have work to do. The Nogitsune was not defeated. It will find a new host and it will continue to create chaos. We have to think of what to do now. Otherwise your-" she stopped herself for a moment, softening her tone, "otherwise Stiles will have died in vain."

Lydia almost boiled with anger at her words. This was that woman's fault, it was always her fault. She summoned the Nogitsune and failed to banish it from the world, and it had cost them Stiles's life.

Scott looked down at his best friend.

"Scott? She's right," Kira said, her voice hesitant. "We have to stop it before something like this happens to someone else."

Scott looked torn. He glanced at Allison's reddening face, and at Lydia's blank stare, and he looked down at Stiles's face again and shook his head mournfully.

"I'm so sorry, buddy," he said tearfully, laying him down again on the ground, gently. He placed one hand on his forehead and just left it there for a moment, as if he were saying a prayer to himself. He finally stood up, breathing to calm himself down. Lydia stared at him in disbelief.

"We can't leave him here," she said.

"We're not going to leave him here, Lydia. But we have to go right now, okay?" Allison said tearfully, wrapping an arm around her friend's shoulder. Lydia pushed her away.

"No, we can't leave him here by himself. We can't do that. It's not-" she couldn't find the word to say right then. Appropriate? Fair? There was just no excuse, there was no way that she could just walk away from him now. Not after they had failed him.

"We'll come back, I promise," Allison said, trying to pull Lydia up to her feet. Lydia grabbed Stiles's right hand and held it to her chest.

"No, I'll stay here, okay? We can't leave him alone."

"Lydia, please?"

"NO! It's okay, I'll stay here. I don't care."

"Lydia, we have to go. It's not safe," Mrs. Yukimura said.

"I DON'T CARE!"

"Lydia!" Scott said forcefully, pulling her up effortlessly onto her feet. Allison stood up as well and put a hand on his shoulder, shocked at his impulsiveness. "We will come back. I promise. I don't want to leave him alone either, but we have to go. We have to tell the others. We have to tell his dad."

Lydia's face contorted with pain again and she started sobbing again. Allison and Scott simultaneously pulled her into a hug, wrapping their arms protectively around each other. She squeezed them with all the strength she had left. They were all she had left now.

It was real, it really was real. She had never hurt so much in her life.

"I did love him..." she wept, clutching at Scott's and Allison's backs, for purchase, otherwise she would just collapse.

"We all loved him, Lydia," Allison said, stroking her friend's hair. Lydia shook her head but didn't reply.

Not like this, she only said to herself.

* * *

They left the clearing after a long moment of trying to get their bearings. Allison and Scott led the way, supporting Lydia most of the way, for fear that she would fall. Scott stopped every once in a while and looked back at the clearing, before continuing with his head hanging low, lip trembling constantly.

Kira walked behind them, holding the katana in its sheath in one hand, as if carrying it reluctantly. As if it disgusted her. Behind her, her mother walked silently, keeping a few steps distance between her and the kids. Lydia could almost see it, and she felt a little sorry for her; Noshiko Yukimura looked burdened. At 900 years of age, she had managed to keep herself youthful, until 70 years ago she had done something that had slowly worn her down. Even with all her power she couldn't manage to keep the aging process at bay.

Lydia wrapped her coat more tightly around her, to no avail. Every step away from the clearing was painful. She was trembling non-stop, from the cold, from the exhaustion, from the slow realization of everything that had happened. The sunrise did very little to warm her. Allison was basically the only thing keeping Lydia from dropping to her knees and staying there until the cold numbed her completely. Yes, she would have preferred that. She wished she could stay there and die.

Before long, they heard voices. The other werewolves and Chris were just up ahead, stopping for a break. Chris ran back to them, looking concerned.

"Allison," he said.

"I'm fine," Allison replied, her voice thick. Lydia saw the others sitting up ahead. Derek stood up and approached them. Isaac and Ethan were helping Aiden up.

"Is everyone okay?" Chris asked. Derek looked around at their faces.

"What happened? Did it work?" he asked.

Kira shook her head. "Stiles is dead," she said quietly. Derek's eyes widened.

"What?" he asked, truly disbelieving.

"What do you mean he's dead?" Isaac demanded. "I thought you knew what you were doing."

Kira started crying quietly, shaking her head.

The twins looked at each other, and Derek was staring at Lydia directly.

Lydia didn't meet his gaze. She felt weak. She felt like she was about to faint or throw up or both. She just wanted to crawl into a bed and stay there forever, in the darkness, and never see anyone again. The fact that Kira had said the words aloud just made it so much more real, so much undeniable. She knew she wouldn't wake up to find that it was all a dream.

"I have to tell the Sheriff," Scott announced, wiping his face earnestly. "We have to go back to get him. We have to finish what we started, and then we have to get him back."

Lydia glanced at him quizzically. Get him back?

Derek nodded, putting an arm around Scott's shoulders and pulling him along. "Let's go," he said in a low voice. "We're not far from the entrance."

The group moved in silence. Mrs. Yukimura had lagged behind quite a bit. Kira walked alongside Scott, but she seemed afraid to touch him or even look at him.

It felt like forever had gone by before they reached the entrance. Deaton, the Sheriff and Melissa were immersed in conversation, and barely seemed to notice when the party arrived. Deaton rushed over to Aiden to tend to him. Melissa hurried over to her son and caressed his face. "Sweetie, what happened?" she asked, seeing his expression. He started crying afresh, unable to get the words out.

"Where's Stiles? What happened?" Sheriff Stilinski asked, glancing at everyone in turn, demanding an answer. Scott shook his head and sobbed.

"I'm sorry, Sheriff... I'm sorry..."

Lydia wanted to look away from the Sheriff's reaction, but she couldn't. The man didn't seem to register what Scott meant for a few seconds, but his face showed how it slowly dawned on him. That his son was dead, that he had lost his family. He stumbled back, and Melissa and Scott had to catch him. His jaw was clenched, his fists were clenched, and he rushed forward, in an attempt to free himself from the two of them.

"I need to go get Stiles," he muttered. Scott held him back steadfast.

"Sheriff, no, he's-"

"I have to see my son."

"He's gone, Sheriff, he's not-"

"I have to see my son!"

"Please, stop!" Melissa shouted, pulling him into a hug. The Sheriff seemed to collapse in her arms, one fist balling the front of Scott's shirt for support.

Lydia looked away, wiping silent tears from her eyes. Allison helped her over to a fallen tree trunk, and she sat there, still and quiet, not even caring how the harsh bark dug into the skin of her thighs. She couldn't really feel anything at the moment.

Stiles's voice rung in her memory at that exact moment, something he had said to her what felt like ages ago.

"_You see, death doesn't happen to you Lydia, it happens to everyone around you, okay? To all the people left standing at your funeral trying to figure out how they're gonna live the rest of their lives without you in it."_

He had been right. Awfully right. But he hadn't been referring to himself. It never seemed to occur to him what would happen to everyone if he was gone.

Deaton walked over to them, interrupting her train of thoughts. "What happened?" he inquired, mostly to Allison. Allison shook her head.

"We failed him," Lydia muttered.

"Noshiko?" Deaton asked, turning to the woman as she approached. She gave a sigh, as if bracing herself for the onslaught of her confession.

"He would have killed my daughter. He would've killed Lydia and Scott. And he would've escaped. I did what I had to do," she said coldly. She burst into tears. "I'm sorry. I did what I had to do."

The Sheriff didn't seem to hear her, or he was too caught in his own pain to hear. What difference did it make anyway?

"But what happened?" Deaton asked again.

Mrs. Yukimura started again. "Kira managed to weaken the Nogitsune. She used her thunder abilities and I thought it would work, but it was taking its toll on her as well. She lost her footing, and the three of them would have died if I hadn't thrown the katana."

"What happened to the Nogitsune?"

"I don't know," Mrs. Yukimura answered. "I thought it would end the same way it did years ago. I thought the katana would kill it. I thought it would manifest itself outside the host body in the form of a fly and we would be able to capture it and bury it as I had done before. But nothing came out. I don't know what happened."

"You said you threw the katana?" Deaton asked. "But then... it wasn't conducting any power when it pierced the Nogitsune?"

"What do you mean?" Kira asked.

"I mean, if you or your mother weren't wielding the katana when it was supposed to kill the Nogitsune, then it wouldn't really kill it. The katana in itself is merely a sword; it has some power on its own, but in reality is merely a conductor for the kitsune's power," Deaton explained.

"So... what happened? What does that mean," Kira pressed. Lydia and Allison were listening intently.

"It means that the Nogitsune has yet to be defeated."

"But what happened to Stiles then?" Allison asked.

"Well, it sounds like Stiles was severely wounded, if not mortally. But while he's being possessed by the Nogitsune, a wound like that wouldn't really kill him. You have witnessed how it survives even bullets," Deaton pointed at Mrs. Yukimura. "The Nogitsune's power protects the host even from being killed. Unless, of course, it were properly killed by a Thunder Kitsune."

Lydia processed this information, breathing hard.

"Are you saying that Stiles might still be alive?"

Deaton shook his head. "I'm not saying anything. But," he tapped his chin thoughtfully, "if the Nogitsune has indeed not left his body, then... there's a chance that it's just laying low, healing itself from this wound. Bidding it's time before it strikes again."

Scott walked over. "But- but Stiles was dead. He died. We saw him. Lydia tried to revive him. He's gone," he said in a pleading tone, like he was begging his boss not to get his hopes up for nothing.

Deaton seemed deep in concentration for a moment. Everyone watched him carefully.

"Listen," he started carfully, "I can't make any promises. This is a situation without precedent for me. Whatever happened, the Nogitsune is still here and we still have to vanquish. If we don't, it's just going to wait until the next host comes along."

Lydia waited for him to say something else, but he merely turned and headed to the Sheriff's patrol, to retrieve his bag from the backseat. Lydia stood up quickly and followed him.

"Dr. Deaton?" she started, her voice suddenly feeble. "You said that he might still be there, right? Stiles, I mean."

Deaton turned to her, a pained expression on his face. "I don't know, Lydia. I really don't. I'm just going by what I've learned from my craft. But I'm no expert."

Lydia shook her head earnestly. "But your craft taught you that he might be. You just said so yourself. If the Nogitsune is still holding on to him as its host, then it might heal him, or at least keep him alive long enough to get a new host. And it makes so much sense," she started talking faster now, with more energy. "It does. Because he's not killed by bullets, and he's not killed by a katana without the power of a kitsune."

"But why is he dead then?" the Sheriff asked in a faint voice.

"The Nogitsune is a trickster," Lydia concluded immediately. "It fooled us. It's fooling us into thinking Stiles is dead. It's fooling us into thinking we may have defeated it, when only _coup de foudre_ would defeat it. But Kira held back, you all held back for fear of killing Stiles. Don't you see? It's making us believe that we failed him anyway, and our grief is giving it strength! We have to go back!"

"And do what?" Derek asked.

"Pull him back," Lydia replied. "Pull Stiles back and close the door, before the Nogitsune gets to him again. Force it out and kill it in the precise moment."

Scott kept shaking his head. "But... but Stiles is-"

"He might be in bardo," Kira said. Lydia and Deaton both looked at her. Lydia smiled at her gratefully.

"He might be," Deaton agreed, nodding. "It's an in-between state, the state between life and death. It's a state of superconsciousness, brought on by meditation, or the transition to the next life. You could say it can even happen when one has a near-death experience."

"Like the sacrifice?" Allison asked.

Deaton nodded again. "It opens a door in your mind, through which you can be visited by spirits, both good and bad, deities, demons. Like the Nogitsune."

"Are you implying that Stiles has been in... this place all this time?" Melissa asked. Deaton shrugged.

"It's possible."

"Is there a way to bring him back?" Scott asked.

Deaton looked at Lydia for a moment before replying. "There always is. But it's always risky. Just like the time we performed the sacrifice."

Lydia knew what he was referring to. "You said I was his anchor," she stated. "You said I was someone who could pull him back. Someone with a strong connection to him. You said that, and I didn't really believe you back then, but I did it anyway, and it worked. I believe you now."

He looked wary. "Lydia, that was a different situation."

"No, it's not. He was on the brink of death back then, and he's on the brink now. I can pull him back. We were going to do it anyway, Scott and I. Can't we do it now?"

Deaton thought for a long moment, staring at the hopeful faces of everyone around him. "I can't guarantee if this is going to work."

"It doesn't matter. We have to try. Otherwise we'll never forgive ourselves."

"Lydia, no," the Sheriff said feebly. "I can't... I can't let you risk your life like this..."

"And you, Sheriff, you told me that, besides Scott, I was the one person whom you trusted to bring your son back," Lydia said, nodding. "I'm going to do it. I know I can do this." She was trying to reassure him as much as she wanted to reassure herself. The truth is she had no idea if this would work, or why she felt so sure that it had to work. It wasn't logic impulsing her, like usual. There was something in her gut telling her that it would.

"Just tell me what I have to do," she told Deaton. The man took a deep breath and grabbed his bag from the backseat.

"Alright," he said with a finality. "Let's give this another try."

* * *

The group headed back to the clearing, this time led by Deaton himself. They were less wary now, but not completely off guard.

It seemed to Lydia that they reached the clearing faster. The sun was up now, and the bright light filtering through the trees and the chirping of birds was quite a contrast to the sight that met them.

Stiles's body was still in the middle of the clearing, just a couple of feet away from the great hulking Nemeton. The dry leaves rustled around him, and he was still there, lifeless, or apparently so.

Deaton stopped at the edge of the clearing, taking in his surroundings cautiously, before approaching slowly. Everyone else stayed back, even Lydia. Even the Sheriff.

"This is indeed the perfect spot," Deaton said quietly, as if not to disturb anything, "The beacon of Beacon Hills."

No one said anything. They were all transfixed by the sight of one of their own lying dead on the ground. The Sheriff, and even Melissa, looked like they were both about to be sick. Everyone else watched Deaton check Stiles's vitals for a moment, without showing any kind of emotion on his face.

Lydia closed her eyes for a moment, trying to think of something nice. She felt like she was starting to have a panic attack.

"Lydia, come here," Deaton called, standing up and beckoning her over. It took her a moment to obey. She was suddenly terrified. She had no idea what she was getting herself into, and if this was going to work at all.

"Okay," he started slowly, calmly, "here's what's going to happen. Remember when we did the sacrifice back in my office, how you pushed Stiles underwater in the tub full of ice?"

Lydia nodded rapidly.

"Well, imagine that he's already underwater. But now you have to follow him."

She gulped visibly, but he continued nonetheless. "Now, we don't have a tub full of ice to put you under, so I'm going to have to use a sedative," he said. "It will lower your heart rate to the point where it's almost as if you were dead, and it will push you into a superconsciousness. Think of it as a cross between Juliet's drug and 'Inception'."

Lydia nodded again, starting to shake with nerves. She did her best not to look at Stiles, keeping her eyes focused on Deaton as he continued to explain.

"Once the sedative kicks in, you will find yourself in Stiles's mind. Now, I can't tell you what you will find down there, but if you know Stiles well enough, you should be able to navigate easily enough. Even so, you might be down there for a long time. Time works differently in the subconscious; a few minutes in the world might feel like hours down there. Do not lose track of time, if you can. Be quick. Find him and bring him back."

Lydia was about to ask how she was supposed to do that. She didn't even know what to expect to see down there. Deaton crouched over to open his case and gestured for her to kneel beside him. He pulled out a syringe, and a tiny vial containing a clear liquid. He stabbed the needle into the vial and filled the syringe with the liquid.

"I have an antidote for the sedative, it can wake you up immediately. I wouldn't like to have to use it, it's almost like an adrenaline shot and quite unpleasant. But I will use it if I notice anything out of the norm, as a precaution. Do not make me use it. If I pull you out of the sedation, we will lose our one shot at bringing Stiles back."

Her mouth went dry. She didn't like needles. She didn't like the sound of any of this.

"Have you done this before?" she asked in an almost imperceptible voice. Deaton sighed.

"I don't think anyone has."

"But it's our best shot, right?"

He nodded without looking at her. He instructed her to lie down, and she did, trying to make herself as comfortable as she could while lying on the cold hard ground, and feeling herself becoming nearly paralyzed with fear. She felt like crying again. She turned her head toward Stiles, and fumbled for his hand. It was icy cold, but she squeezed it with all her might.

"Wait," she said just as Deaton cleaned the back of her other hand with alcohol and a cotton wad. "Shouldn't there be something, uh, connecting Stiles and I? Something that will direct me to his mind or something?" she asked hesitantly. Deaton smiled for the first time.

"Lydia, how many times have you found yourself seeing right into his mind? In his dreams? The connection is there already. If you're really his anchor, you will get there. Trust me, you will get there."

Lydia nodded, breathing slow and long to calm herself. She breathed through her mouth as he injected the sedative, wincing a little at the prick.

"Lydia," Deaton said as he finished, "bear in mind that if the Nogitsune is indeed still in there, then it might try to take hold of you too. Do not give it a chance. Get Stiles and get out. We will take care of the rest."

"Lydia, wait!" Allison shot forward, crying. "What if you die? What if you don't come back?"

Lydia's breath started to slow on its own. Her vision quickly began to blur, but she could see her friend's silhouette standing above her. "I don't care. I have to try..." she said in a drawling voice, holding on tightly to Stiles's hand. "I'm his anchor..."

* * *

She blinked, and suddenly she was elsewhere.

Lydia quickly sat up, half expecting to feel dizzy, but she didn't. She was in Stiles's room again. It was that dream. But was it her dream or Stiles's?

Everything looked sharp and real. She looked down at herself. She was still wearing what she had been wearing a moment ago, in the real world. She pushed herself off the bed and stood firmly, feeling balanced and solid and real.

The door was closed, as she had expected. But with a curious glance around, she noticed something different. There was no sound, not a single thing jarring her focus. She could see and think clearly. So she reached for the doorknob.

She almost expected something or someone to shout at her, to warn her to stop, but there was nothing. Without another moment of hesitation, she turned the knob, and pulled the door open. Beyond it was the suffocating darkness.

Taking a deep breath, she walked into it.

* * *

_There. That was the Inception bit that I was going to do all along. I swear I didn't just copy it off the show. Also, you may have noticed that I used a gentler method than Scott's claws. That would have never occurred to me. Nasty._

_Only two more chapters now. And those basically write themselves, too. Bear with me, readers! I love you!_

_-Vale._


	14. Chapter 14

_Sorry for the long delay, but I had to start this chapter over. My computer got busted and I lost a lot of files :(. I had another file elsewhere, but it didn't have most of what I had already written for this chapter, so I basically had to rewrite the entire thing. It's been hard, but finally here we are._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf, but if I did, I would make damn sure to have up to ten backups of all my writing, otherwise the fans would kill me, right? Hehe… *dodgy eyes*_

* * *

**Found**

Chapter 14

_by HappyValentina_

As soon as she walked into the darkness, it dissipated. Lydia jumped in surprise. She was suddenly in the forest again, in the grove where she had lay down just a moment ago, surrounded by a dozen floodlights, like the ones from the lacrosse field back at the school; they were arranged in a wide circle, at the center of which was the Nemeton.

The floodlights had been switched on, becoming brighter and brighter as they warmed up, making an electrical buzzing sound. Lydia shielded her eyes from the brightness and approached the Nemeton cautiously.

A heavy wind started blowing from everywhere, whipping her hair back and forth across her face. The trees around the grove swung and rustled violently, and the dry leaves on the ground swirled incessantly. Lydia shut her eyes, to keep dust and dirt from getting into them, and covered her ears from the howling wind.

"This isn't real. It's just a dream," she muttered to herself, barely hearing her own voice over the wind.

"No, it's not, Lydia," a voice said from straight ahead. Lydia opened her eyes quickly and saw Stiles sitting on top of the flat stump of the Nemeton. He had come out of nowhere, and judging from the way he looked at her, it wasn't really Stiles either.

"Your mind makes it real. Stiles's mind makes it real," the Nogitsune said.

"Where is he?" she asked automatically, because she really wasn't expecting an answer.

"Not here," it said with a shrug. "He's been hiding somewhere for a while, deep down. He thinks I can't get to him there, but I can go anywhere, look at everything. Sometimes I bring it up to this level with me, and have a little fun with it. Especially with you," it continued, flashing her a sly smile.

Lydia considered this. If the Nogitsune was telling the truth, then every time she had been seeing right into Stiles's dreams, she had seen what the Nogitsune had wanted her to see. Had it intended her to see into the basement of Eichen House, the night Stiles sleepwalked into the forest? Had it always known about the connection between Stiles and Lydia?

"What is this level?"

"That's for me to know and for you to find out. Do you like it?" the Nogitsune announced with a cheesy wave of an arm, gesturing to what Lydia could only refer to as devastation. "Since the sacrifice it's become a little darker than it used to be."

Lydia squinted, the wind prickling her skin, making her shiver.

"He thinks he's going insane. Just like his mom," the Nogitsune whispered. "He might be, though, even without my help."

It stood up on the stump and put its hands on its hips. "You know, it's very nice of you to have come. It mustn't have been an easy decision, but it's a lovely gesture, especially considering that it's pointless."

Lydia didn't say anything, so the Nogitsune continued. "As I have told you before, repeatedly, he's beyond anyone's help. He's going to die. His mind has slowly and steadily been turned into a wasteland."

"By you," she said. The Nogitsune nodded obligingly.

"Well, yeah, that's true. But you know, someone had to take the bullet. It could have been your friend Allison. Poor Allison, with such a violent family history. The death of her aunt and then her mother must have really left a mark on her." It shook its head and made a clicking noise with its tongue. "It could have been Scott as well. Scott's had his share of heartbreak, too, since his father left, but especially since he got himself turned into a werewolf, thus bringing the chaos of the supernatural into his life and the lives of his loved ones, putting a lot of people in constant mortal danger, including his best friends."

Lydia grimaced; when the Nogitsune uttered the word 'chaos' it seemed to savor it, to relish it like no other. The Nogitsune continued, undeterred.

"But I chose Stiles. It was the most obvious choice. So much grief, constantly, increasingly. His mother died of a disease that he very well might have inherited himself; his father developed a drinking problem and blamed all their disgraces on him; he became a mere sidekick to his super-powerful best friend. He's constantly put down by his peers, constantly disregarded in spite of being smart, clever, and brave, disregarded for being a mere mortal. People are constantly dying around him, and he wants to help, but no one listens to him, because what could a mere human like him really contribute to the supernatural situations that arise?"

Lydia started backing away; she didn't want to listen to this anymore. She was wasting her time listening to the Nogitsune spewing lies at her.

"He's too curious for his own good, too enthusiastic. I think it finally caught up to him, I think he finally realized how everyone's better off without him. How he's always just been a burden, a nuisance; how he's only managed to get himself into more trouble; how he holds his more capable friends back. How..." the corners of its lips curved upward even more, taunting her, "how the girl he's been deeply in love with for most of his life is never going to love him back."

A tear escaped from Lydia's eye, and she wiped it away angrily.

"Well, you're wrong," she said in a low voice, walking around the Nemeton. The Nogitsune stopped smiling.

"What?"

Lydia wouldn't deign to fill him in. "I have to go find Stiles, and since you're not going to help, I better get going," she declared, sounding braver than she felt. She didn't like not being able to see where it was, it made her nervous, but she had to move fast.

Outside of the circle, the air was much calmer, and the buzzing of the floodlights became fainter as she got farther. The forest also became naturally brighter, as if daylight was coming. In fact, the forest looked exactly the same as it did in the real world, but she had never been too familiarized with it to know exactly where she was going, so she just walked straight.

The only sound now were her footsteps, the crunching of leaves and twigs under her boots. But soon enough she heard another set of footsteps behind her. Glancing over her shoulder she saw the Nogitsune following her at a distance, calmly and nonchalantly, as if it were just going for a stroll. She walked faster.

Eventually she came to a pond. This she remembered, she had come across that same pond on many occasions during their many treks through the woods. The water was like a glass, but a moment later, a pebble fell right into the middle, causing ripples to disturb the still surface, making the sunlight dance on it. Lydia looked up; across the pond were two figures. One was a boy with a thick red coat throwing pebbles into the water, and the other was a woman sitting on the ground, with a wooly blanket wrapped around her shoulders on top of her coat, and a steaming mug in her hands.

"See, this is what I was talking about," the Nogitsune said, startling her as it approached from behind. Lydia didn't look at it, instead focusing of the figures. "I bring these nice memories up to the surface so that someone else, like you, can look at them. Stiles quite likes this one in particular. How old do you reckon he was here, five, six? And she? She probably didn't even know she was sick yet."

Lydia was transfixed by the sight of a tiny Stiles playing by the pond, while his mother watched him. She looked exactly like in the pictures, exactly like Stiles. It made Lydia's heart ache. They looked so happy, so carefree.

"In fact, Stiles likes it so much that he went off and hid in it," the Nogitsune continued. "You see, he thought that maybe I couldn't use him as long as he's hiding down there. But I'm already in, so..." it shrugged and made a face. "I guess he didn't think anyone would try to save him. I bet he thought you'd all just listen to that woman, the Kitsune, and kill him in order to get rid of me, which, let's face it, it's probably what you should have done."

"So," she started against her best judgment, "he's down there, with his memories? Is he waiting to die?"

The Nogitsune shrugged again. "He was a little stubborn at first, but I guess he finally saw the truth for himself. I mean, would you blame him? After everything that's happened, maybe you are all better off without him. And also, why would he want to go back to the real world? There's just pain and grief and suffering. Here, he's safe, and he's got his mom back. Why wouldn't he prefer that?"

Lydia shook her head. "Because it's not real."

"I doubt that he cares about that. The mind makes it real."

"But we are real. And we need him."

"No, you don't."

"You know nothing. You don't know him. We do. We need him."

"Regardless of what you say, it's not really me you'd have to convince; it's him, isn't it? It's Stiles," the Nogitsune said dismissively. "And you really have to find him first."

Lydia stared around nervously. She looked at little Stiles and Claudia Stilinski on the opposite bank; they were merely a memory, they probably wouldn't be able to see her or hear her or anything.

But for a split second, it seemed to her that maybe little Stiles did. She stared at him fixedly, wondering if she had just imagined it. He threw a pebble with all his might and it sank into the exact center of the water. Lydia looked at him again, and his eyes met hers for a second before he tossed another pebble into the dead center. He looked at her one last time before turning and running back to his mother. Claudia was looking at her as well, and then turned to smile at her little boy and wrapped him in the blanket and in her arms, rocking them back and forth until he was laughing.

Lydia didn't know how she knew it, but she did. That was an instruction. Without thinking twice about it, she walked into the pond, stepping carefully so as not to slip.

"What do you think you're doing?" the Nogitsune demanded.

"Going on to the next level," she said, gasping at the coldness of the water. Her booties filled with water, making it difficult to advance.

"You are not," it said louder, angrier.

"What did you think, that I wouldn't figure it out? That I came here just to chat with you? I have to find Stiles. And you can't stop me. Not in here."

"Oh, and that's where you're wrong," it growled, clasping its hands strongly on her shoulders and yanking her back. She yelped in pain and fell backward onto the wet, smooth round pebbles covering the bank. The Nogitsune started pulling her back, and she struggled with all her might to get away from its grip. She picked up a bunch of pebbles and tossed them back with all her strength, hitting it in the face. The Nogitsune, unfazed, picked her up by the front of her jacket and held her off the ground. Lydia's first instinct was to scream. Loudly.

Her piercing banshee scream seemed to at least distress the Nogitsune for a brief moment, which she used to push him back as hard as she could and run out into the pond again. She waded out until the water reached her chest, the skirt of her dress floating up around her, and it was almost too deep for her to touch down, so she swam. She was afraid to look back, to see what the Nogitsune was doing, until she was in the middle of the pond, where the pebbles had fallen. She turned, kicking her feet to stay afloat, and saw the Nogitsune standing on the bank, staring at her coldly.

"Careful, you're going to get lost down there," it warned her, dark, cold eyes narrowed.

Lydia ignored it, her lip trembling furiously with the cold. She looked down. She couldn't see anything below, but she was almost 100% sure that it was the way to go. With one last glance at the mother and son, Lydia took a deep breath and dove.

* * *

It was pitch dark and cold.

The icy water felt like knives and daggers , and her entire body seemed to be going numb, faster, faster. She blinked hard, and her eyes stung. Her lungs ached horribly, and her throat stung, like she was swallowing needles.

She kicked down as hard as she could, swimming to what she hoped was the bottom of the pond. She needed air. She needed light...

* * *

She broke the surface on the other side and drew breath and it was such a relief. She was in the ocean, she realized, as she sputtered salty water and heard the cry of seagulls overhead. She looked around, struggling to stay afloat, her limbs feeling like they were on fire. She spotted the shore, and swam toward it.

Exhausted, she let the waves push her onto the sandy beach, coughing and gasping. It suddenly occurred to her that Deaton couldn't have drawn a more precise comparison: it was just like that scene in 'Inception'. She had literally just washed up on the shores of Stiles's mind.

When the water was shallow enough, she stood up and waded out of the sea, trying to keep her balance as the waves crashed all around her and threatened to tumble her around. Her dark red coat was heavy with water, and the heels of her boots kept sinking into the wet sand. Lydia made it all the way out of the water and started walking along the shore.

To her surprise, she came across Claudia and little Stiles again; she was sitting on the sand with the blanket and the hot beverage, and he was in his red coat, tossing pebbles and shells into the ocean. He ran back toward his mother and she cuddled him under the blanket until he laughed.

This must have been the original memory, Lydia thought. Had she come to the right place? Was this were all of Stiles's memories were found?

She walked along the shore, keeping a safe distance behind the mother and her child. This time they didn't seem to notice her at all; Lydia wondered if they even could. She made her way with difficulty, her heels stabbing stubbornly into the sand, until she saw a path leading up from the beach, past a rickety fence and into a field.

A slightly older Stiles, about seven years old, was playing catch with his father in the middle of the field. Lydia gave them a wide berth, walking along the edge of the field. There was a black Labrador barking and running between them, trying to catch the ball they were tossing back and forth. Had Stiles had a dog once?

Lydia had no idea where she was going, if she was heading in the correct direction, but she had a gut feeling and she planned to follow it.

She came to the front of a building. It was Beacon Hills Elementary. In the front yard, seven-year-old Stiles was talking to a boy whom Lydia recognized as a seven-year-old Scott. It was their first day in the second grade and the two had just met and were already having a very in-depth debate over who was the best X-Men. Little Stiles got as agitated and gestured wildly with his hand as always.

Lydia suddenly realized that if she went inside, she might see herself meeting Stiles for the first time as well. It made her nervous and eager at the same time. She walked down the corridor and headed toward the library and stood behind a shelf. Sure enough, there she was, freckly and small, blushing furiously as she talked to Stiles about Jack London books and Greek mythology. He blushed as well. She awkwardly put her hand out for him to shake. Little Lydia was such a mess of nerves; she wished she could tell her eight-year-old self to not be so hard on herself, that she was doing just fine. Back then, Stiles seemed to do that a lot for her too.

Lydia remembered suddenly when she began to ignore him. He was always passing her notes in class, cute or funny notes, and she never read them in class or replied for fear of getting caught, but she always kept them, and she would read them with him between classes, when she and Stiles walked together to class.

One day, however, she did open one of his notes and laughed in the middle of Science, and the teacher made her stand in front of the class and read it out loud.

"We're all very interested on what you were reading that was more important than paying attention in class. Go on, then, Miss Martin, read it for us. Share," the Science teacher had demanded, that wicked witch with spindly legs and arms. Lydia had been mortified, staring at Stiles in hopes that he could rescue her. He tried, at least.

"Actually, Mrs. Livingston, I wrote the note. I should read it," he had announced, standing up.

"Sit down, Mr. Stilinski. I asked Miss Martin to do it."

Stiles sat back down defeatedly and stared at his desk. Lydia wanted to cry.

"I won't ask you again, Miss Martin. What does the note say?"

Lydia held the note in her trembling hands and read it out loud in a very small voice.

"'If... if I was a wizard, my _patronus_ would be a fox, because foxes remind me of you. They are pretty and super smart and have awesome red fur that reminds me of your hair. Also you're my happy thought'," Lydia had read out loud, blurting it all as fast as she could and in the lowest voice she could manage, and turning bright red in the process. Most of her classmates had laughed loudly, except Scott and Danny. Stiles had stared at Lydia, looking apologetic, while Lydia had avoided his eyes, just staring at her feet while her face burned with embarrassment. Mrs. Livingston had shaken her head.

"I don't know and I don't care what a patronus is, but I doubt it has anything to do with the Canidae family, therefore it has no place in my class. One more distraction like this, Miss Martin, and I will give you detention, is that clear?"

From that day on, Lydia had seemed to do her best to ignore Stiles, out of spite, until it came naturally. Eventually it was as if they had never been friends.

Lydia walked through the moments of second grade and third grade that had become embedded in Stiles's memory. There were moments that Lydia did not recognize, because she hadn't been there. Stiles and Scott getting into trouble; Stiles getting detention even when he was one of the smartest kids in the whole school; Stiles skipping class, hiding out in the library more and more often, to get some sleep.

Lydia was suddenly back in Stiles's room, in the middle of the night, with eight-year-old Stiles sleeping. She stared down at his peaceful, freckly face, when they were both startled by a gut-wrenching scream coming from another room. Little Stiles sat up in bed, breathing hard, recoiling. Lydia stared at the closed door, and knew without a doubt what it was.

The screaming eventually ceased, and the Sheriff had appeared a moment later at the door, seeing his son awake and looking terrified.

"It's okay, son," he had said, as he walked over to the young boy and stroked his head. "Everything is fine. Your mom just had a bad dream, but she's fine now. Go back to sleep."

Little Stiles nodded and laid back down wordlessly, and his father left the room, turning one last time to check on the boy before closing the door. But little Stiles didn't go back to sleep. He'd had trouble sleeping for a long time since that moment.

Lydia found herself going back and forth between the school and the Stilinski household. The same thing happened over and over again.

Then she was in the Beacon Hills hospital, walking behind a slightly younger-looking Melissa McCall, who sat with little Stiles in the waiting area when he was told to leave his mother's room. Melissa would talk to him, and Stiles would just nod or shake his head, with his eyes fixed on his shoes or the linoleum floor.

Lydia couldn't tell how many days, weeks, or months these memories spanned, but before she knew it, she was inside Claudia Stilinski's hospital room, and Stiles was with her, and they were alone. Lydia stood in a dark corner, watching, listening as the boy spoke to his mother, telling her how his day had been, and the mother stared back at him blankly, smiling.

"You don't know who I am, do you?" he had asked, stroking his mother's long brown hair. Lydia cried quietly in the corner, watching him get up on the bed and laying his head down on his mother's chest. After a while, one of the mother's hands reached up to stroke his hair, as if on its own accord, and they just lay like that, until she fell asleep. It sounded like she whispered her son's name as she drifted off, and she didn't wake up again.

Lydia let out a muffled sob. Could he hear her? Could she interact with him? Could she have reached for him and pulled him into her arms? A small group of doctors and nurses walked into the room at that instant, and Melissa pulled Stiles up into her arms, and carried him out of the room. He didn't cry.

Lydia followed them, and stood by as Melissa talked to Stiles quietly, rubbing his back. She couldn't hear what they were saying. It didn't seem like Stiles was saying anything at all.

Sheriff Stilinski arrived after a while, to find his son still sitting in the waiting area, with his head in his hands. He picked his son up and embraced him, and cried into the boy's shoulder. Stiles still didn't cry.

Lydia was shaking, feeling her chest tight with sorrow. Was this going to happen to Stiles too? Would he lie in a hospital bed, looking quietly at the people he once knew, smiling silently, unable to recognize any of the faces? Would he drift off to sleep and simply not wake up anymore?

She still had to find him. He was trapped in his own body, in his own mind, a hostage to a vengeful creature, and if she didn't find him, then this was his real end. She had to keep going.

Lydia found herself in the middle of the forest, and saw Stiles sitting with his back against a tree, shaking with cold. She realized this was the time Stiles had run away from home. He looked like he was freezing, like he would start losing consciousness, but he was found in time. The beams of flashlights made their way to where he was, and soon he was surrounded by cops. One officer wrapped him up in a blanket and carried him hurriedly to the nearest patrol car. When they got to the hospital, the Sheriff was already there waiting; he opened the back door of the car, picked his son up in his arms and carried him off, without saying a word. Little Stiles seemed terrified at first, he probably thought that his father would yell at him or worse, but the man was squeezing him tightly in his arms, and the boy's eyes filled with tears and his arms linked around his father's neck, whispering apologies into his shoulder.

Lydia walked back into the school, into class, and saw herself staring sympathetically as little Stiles returned to school long after his mother's death. She wasn't supposed to be friends with Stiles anymore; but she had offered him a smile when he looked at her, and he had smiled back, and she had hoped that had been enough. Back then she could not figure out what could she possibly say to make him feel better, so she would rather not say anything at all. But she did care. Looking back at that moment, Lydia wished she had done something, said something to show him.

The following memories were blurred together; therapy sessions, group sessions for dealing with grief, skipping school, sleeping a lot. The start of an Adderall dependency, and everything seemed to move faster from then on. School, home, getting into trouble, repeat. She saw Stiles and Scott the night that Scott got bitten, the night that all their lives changed, that Beacon Hills stopped being a tiny boring town.

She saw herself ignoring Stiles. She saw herself hanging out with Jackson and Danny and eventually Allison. It seemed like she was always in Stiles's memories, even if she didn't talk to him; she was always lurking at the edge of his consciousness.

When she inevitably started interacting with him again more and more, Lydia found herself observing carefully what she had said, how she had looked at him, and it was bizarre. It was like Stiles really saw her, more than anyone else. He saw right through her walls. She wasn't just the pretty girl he once had a crush on: he seemed to know her. He knew that she was smarter and cleverer than she ever let on, braver than she pretended to be. He constantly told her, reminded her of everything about her that was exceptional. It was strange, to have someone think of her that way.

She watched herself at the school dance, slow-dancing with Stiles; she had absent-mindedly buried her face in his neck before jolting back to reality and realizing she was in public. Like she was afraid of the consequences, of anyone thinking that she could care about him.

She suddenly remembered a conversation that she had with Allison once.

"Remember what it feels like? All of those times in school when you see him standing down the hall, and you cannot breathe until you're with him. Or those times in class when you can't stop looking at the clock because you know that he's standing out there waiting for you. Don't you remember what that's like?"

"No," Lydia had replied, feeling a pang of jealousy.

"What do you mean 'no'? You've had boyfriends."

"Not like that."

The old Lydia was too preoccupied with stupid things like appearances, about popularity, about what people would say, too blind to recognize how unimportant those things had become.

She continued to navigate his memories, and it so often came back to her: Stiles begging Peter Hale not to kill her in the lacrosse field; Stiles shielding her with his body when the murder of crows blasted their way into the English Lit classroom; Stiles coming to find her when the Darach held her hostage; Stiles saving Lydia from a bear trap; Stiles saving Scott from committing suicide, and Lydia saving them both from catching fire; Stiles sacrificing himself to find his father, and Lydia being his anchor.

She trusted him more and cared about him more than most people in her life. He probably did too. They were more than just friends; they were a team.

Lydia walked past the locker room and saw herself through the door. trying to calm Stiles down when he had been having a panic attack. In hindsight, she could disregarded it as a moment of impulsiveness and quick thinking, but seeing it again, seeing herself kissing Stiles, lingering with her lips on his and her eyes closed, hands holding his face gently, she realized it betrayed a curiosity that she had kept under wraps since the day that she met him for the first time in the library.

It was hard to look away, but then the kiss ended, and Lydia kept going, past the door, and out of the building, into the school yard. It was empty, so she walked quickly, just keeping straight. The sky seemed suddenly darker, like it might rain, and she just walked on, seeing the scenery changing. She didn't know where she was anymore; perhaps somewhere close to San Francisco. She kept walking until she reached another beach. The sand was warmer, there were people around, children, dogs, laughter and music, young kids playing frisbee and volleyball. She walked past everyone, until she reached a boardwalk. At the far end of the boardwalk was a pier.

Sitting on the edge, at the very end, with his feet dangling, was Stiles. The real Stiles. Lydia didn't know how she knew, but she did.

He turned when she approached, and looked at her sadly.

"This is the beach closest to my grandparents' house in Eureka. I used to come here as a kid all the time for summer vacation," he said. "When my mom died, I just stopped coming altogether."

Lydia stood by quietly, not knowing what to say.

"I miss this place," he added.

"It's lovely," Lydia said after a pause. He turned to her again.

"You shouldn't have come," he merely said. She stayed a couple of feet behind him, hesitant.

"Did you know I would come?"

He shrugged. "I don't doubt that it could actually be done, someone visiting me inside my own head. Stranger things have happened," he said with a slight chuckle before becoming serious again. "You shouldn't have risked it. It doesn't matter anymore."

"What do you mean it doesn't matter?"

He shrugged. "I'm fine here. I'll be fine. I just didn't want anyone else getting hurt."

Lydia stared at the back of his head. It was a little weird talking to him again, to the real Stiles. It felt like such a long time ago since the last time she had been certain it was the real him.

"Stiles, what are you saying?"

He turned toward her again, giving her a sad smile. "I'm dead, aren't I?" he said a little too calmly. "I know I died. I know it, because the nightmares stopped. And now I can see everything again, the nice memories, the good ones. I couldn't see them before. I could only see what the Nogitsune saw, what it wanted me to see, and that's basically the bad memories and bad dreams that have been driving me crazy since the sacrifice."

He stared longingly toward the ocean again, and she finally sat down beside him.

"Is everyone okay?" he asked before she could speak. She looked at him and shook her head. "I mean... besides me."

She hesitated. "Yes."

"Good," he said, nodding slowly. I'm glad you guys managed to kill it. I didn't want anyone else getting hurt because of me." He turned to her and shrugged again. "It's okay. I'm okay. You should leave."

Lydia shook her head vigorously. "You're not dead, Stiles. I wouldn't be able to be here if you were."

He looked slightly put off, like he wasn't expecting good news or didn't know what to do with them. He looked like he didn't quite believe her.

"The Nogitsune is still in control, though," she explained. "But we can still beat him. That's why I came to find you. You have to come back."

He stared out at the ocean again, and she was quiet, to give him time to take it all in.

"You should go back and do whatever you have to do to kill it. Kill me if you have to. I don't care."

"Stiles, do you have any idea how hard we've worked on trying to find a way to kill the Nogitsune without hurting you? No one is going to kill you, not if we can help it."

"You're wasting time. There's no other way."

"There is, though. We just need to-"

"Lydia, just put me out of my misery."

His voice was harder, heavier, when he said it, and he looked her straight in the eye. His pained expression was terrible to look at.

"What?" she blurted out. "You can't possibly be serious-"

"I can't go back. I can't face what I've done. Someone could have died. You could've died. I know Scott nearly did."

She grabbed his shoulder too forcefully. "This isn't you. This is the Nogitsune that has filled your head with these thoughts. You haven't done anything," she retorted, and he sighed.

"Yes, I did. I let them in. I opened the door. If it hadn't been for that, none of this would have happened. I should've listened to you."

Lydia was puzzled for a moment, until she realized what he meant.

"You remember that? Me being in the dream?"

"I didn't know it was really you at first, I thought you were just part of the dream."

She faced him. "I thought so too at first. But I also saw you in the basement of Eichen House, even if you weren't really there," she said excitedly. "That's how I'm here now. That's how I was able to come find you. That's why I can bring you back. We're connected. Remember? I'm your anchor. I'm your tether."

He didn't respond.

"Stiles?" she said. He refused to look at her. "Stiles, you can't stay here. You can't do this to me. To us."

Stiles started moving his head from one side to the other, in a very slow negative.

The sky was getting darker. Lydia guessed that wasn't a very good sign.

Below, on the beach, she caught sight of little Stiles throwing stones into the ocean, while Claudia watched him from under the blanket. Stiles saw it too. It was obvious that he unconsciously conjured the memory, like it was his most precious one. He stared longingly, and Lydia stared at him.

"I know it's hard," she started diplomatically. "I know it would be so much easier for you to stay here. I know this seems like the ideal place to be, in this nook of your mind, where there's nothing wrong and nothing can hurt you anymore. Where she still exists."

Stiles turned to look at her again, his eyes glistening with tears. Lydia just continued.

"I know that you feel like you're with her again. I know that going back means losing her again, but if you stay... we all lose you." Her own eyes started prickling with oncoming tears. "And we're not ready for that. We want to save you. I... I'm here to save you."

"You should have just killed me," he said in a half-whisper, wiping away a tear before it could make its way down his face.

"Don't say that. Don't even-" she felt her face growing hot, with anger and grief. "Do you have any idea what it's been like out there? What it was like to see you- like that?" She couldn't even say it. She sniffled loudly, feeling the hot tears pooling in her eyes. She took a deep breath.

"You once told me that death doesn't happen to you, it happens to the people you love who are left behind, wondering what they're going to do about their lives without you," she said, You can't do this to us. To your dad, to Scott, to your friends. To me."

He kept shaking his head.

"I can't go back without you. I might as well stay here with you. We need you, Stiles. I need you."

She wanted to say something else, something that she got the feeling would convince him. But she was still afraid, of saying it now; she was afraid of him thinking that she was just saying to persuade him. Or even worse, to realize that it didn't really matter anymore like she thought it might.

Maybe it didn't make a difference to him anymore, and she was terrified of finding out.

"It wasn't your fault that she died," she said instead. He snapped his head toward her again, lips slightly parted in surprise. She swallowed the lump in her throat.

"I know it's been grinding on you since your mom died, but you have to know it wasn't your fault at all. Your dad knows it. He says he's afraid that you never stopped believing that."

Stiles started crying quietly. Lydia put her arms around his shoulders and pulled him toward her, squeezing as tightly as she could, unable to do anything about her own tears. He sobbed silently, clutching at her arms. She felt better, like maybe she was doing well, that she was finally getting through to him. She felt a great relief, finally being there for him. Like that day in the locker room.

He lifted his head suddenly, sniffling, calming down slowly. His voice was thicker.

"If I go back, I'm just going to die later. Just like she did."

Lydia shook her head vigorously, running her fingers through the back of his hair.

"No, you're not. I'm not going to let you."

He gave the tiniest smile and a flick of his eyebrows "Really?" he said, vaguely skeptical.

She smiled back and shrugged.

"I have no idea how, but I'll find a way." She took a deep breath. "I'm your anchor."

He nodded in agreement. "You're my anchor."

They sat in silence for a bit, just staring at each other. For her part, Lydia was still terrified of what was to come, but at the same time she was incredibly relieved that she hadn't given up. The memory of Stiles lying dead on the ground would probably haunt her for a very long time, but sitting here with him on a pier in a beach from his memory felt more real and more memorable than anything that had happened before. She suddenly wished she could stay there with him. But that wasn't possible; and that was not what she came to do.

"We have to go back, Stiles," she said. "We have to finish what we started."

Stiles took a deep breath and let it out slowly, and looked at her. "How?"

"I'm not sure," she replied, staring at the increasingly darkening sky.

"You know it's out there, getting ready," Stiles said, staring at the sky too, apprehensively. "You know it's going to try to stop us."

Lydia nodded. "Yep. We can't give it a chance. Whatever it tries, you just have to remember that it's all in your head, that it's not real. I'll be there too, to remind you."

"But how do we push it out?"

"It's your own mind, Stiles. You'll figure it out. Trust me," she said, more certain than she actually felt. He nodded, standing up and helping her up to her feet as well. She took his hands in hers and squeezed with all her strength.

"Are you ready?" she asked, quivering in the cold breeze. He visibly shuddered as well, but nodded again. They both looked once more toward the beach, at the two figures sitting on the sand. The mother and the son seemed to look straight at them and smile.

"Do you trust me?" Lydia asked, gazing up at him. Stiles looked suddenly calm, peaceful and focused. She was sure she had never seen him like this.

He took a deep breath and nodded, staring into her eyes. She smiled reassuringly.

"Okay, then... just follow me, just do what I say, and we're going to get out of this together, okay? Just don't lose yourself. Not again."

"I won't."

She turned toward the ocean and he did the same. She stared at the sky, getting darker and darker by the moment.

"Don't be afraid," she said, as much to Stiles as to herself. He gripped her hand tightly.

"I'm not."

"Close your eyes, deep breath, and one... two... three!"

They jumped off the pier in unison, plummeting to the water in a moment of complete weightlessness, and sinking below the surface. Once underneath, she pulled him close, so that he could see her face, and pointed down. With all their strength, they started kicking down.

* * *

_We're almost there. I swear this story keeps dragging on… shame on me. I'm sorry._

_I hope you're all at least unbothered by my head canons. I wish so hard we had more backstory on all our lovely characters, especially Stiles. And Lydia. And obviously Scott. Come on, give me all the backstories!_

_-Vale._


	15. Chapter 15

_I'm so sorry for the delay. I've been extra busy, getting stuff done at work before Holy Week. I also had a bunch of things to get done before a trip I'm going on tonight. I already have to go, I'm late! But I couldn't go before posting this chapter._

_Only one more chapter to go. Hope you like this one._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf, but if I did, I would have totally taken this opportunity to introduce everyone to Stiles's mom. You totally missed the perfect chance, Davis. You goober._

* * *

**Found**

Chapter 15

_by HappyValentina_

When her lungs felt like they would burst, Lydia broke the surface, gasping for air. She saw Stiles sputtering next to her.

"Are you okay?" she asked breathlessly. He looked around, a little shocked, and nodded.

"Come on! Let's go!" she said urgently, swimming toward the bank, pulling him along. Stiles reached footing before her and helped her up, their clothes heavy with water.

"Where is it?" she asked, looking around frantically. On the other side of the pond, mother and son were gone. The skies were cast over. In front of them, the forest looked dark and ominous.

"What is happening?" Stiles whispered. Lydia shook her head.

"I don't know. I can't see much." She turned to him. "Stiles, listen, you have to be strong. I'm here with you, okay? And I'm not leaving without you."

Stiles nodded, interlocking their fingers. She smiled at him again, hoping it looked reassuring.

"We're gonna make a run for it. If we come across the Nogitsune, we just keep going. Through the door, and back out. You don't have to be afraid anymore. We're going to make it."

"Yes."

"We're going to make it, Stiles."

"Yes."

"We're going to be fine," she said, swallowing the nervous lump in her throat. "Let's go."

They started running through the trees, jumping and tensing at every sound they heard. Lydia felt cold, the chilly air biting her body, even when her clothes and her hair were suddenly dry. The cold air hurt her chest as her breathing became more agitated.

They finally made it to the part of the woods where the Nemeton was located, and slowed down to a stop before leaving the thick of the woods, glancing around the last tree.

It was suddenly quiet. The reflectors were gone. It was much darker now, but they could clearly see the Nemeton, and that there seemed to be no one around. Obviously that didn't make her feel any better, because she knew there was something definitively around.

"There's the door," Lydia whispered, pointing toward the other side. The door to Stiles's bedroom stood just yards away. It was quite an odd sight, a solitary wooden door standing in the middle of a forest, like a very bizarre version of Narnia.

"So we just make a run for it again?" he asked. No sooner had he said it, that they caught sight of someone sitting in the middle of it, atop the flat stump of the Nemeton. A figure with a blanket wrapped around her. Claudia.

Lydia froze and her breath caught in her throat. She quickly glanced at Stiles. He looked just as confused. Claudia Stilinski blew gently at the hot beverage in her hand, like she did at the beach while watching her little boy throw seashells into the water. Then suddenly she looked up at them. She smiled at Stiles and held out her free hand, beckoning him.

Lydia put her hand firmly on his shoulder, even before he intended to move.

"Stiles, no. It's just your memory of her. She's not real."

He seemed conflicted. For a moment it looked like he might run back and jump right back into the pond, but Lydia squeezed his hand again, and he looked at her and nodded sadly. With a sigh, he followed her as they inched their way carefully around the clearing, staying as hidden as the could manage amongst the trees. Claudia followed them with her eyes, silently.

They were halfway there already. It can't possibly be this easy, she thought pessimistically, and a second later she wished she hadn't.

The Nogitsune appeared behind Claudia, climbing atop the Nemeton as well, wielding a katana just like Kira's.

"NO!" Stiles yelled, surging forward, running toward them.

"STILES, DON'T!" Lydia shouted, trying to stop him, but he slipped through her fingers.

With a sick grin toward them, the Nogitsune stabbed through Claudia's back, and the blade came out the other side. Blood sprouted from the wound, and from Claudia's lips.

The woman's face blanched, and then she fell forward, dropping the mug. She lay still, until Stiles reached her, lifting her by the shoulders. "MOM!" he cried, clutching her to his chest.

Lydia started freaking out, with no clue of what to do. "It's not real, Stiles! It's doing this to trick you!"

Stiles's pain-stricken face turned toward Lydia momentarily, then looked down at his mother again. It wasn't Claudia anymore; the figure in his arms had suddenly turned into the Nogitsune, into the figure with the bomber jacket and the torn bandages and the sharp teeth and wheezing voice. Stiles dropped it and jumped up to his feet, scrambling away as fast as he could. The bandaged figure lay prone on the ground for a moment before disappearing, dissolving like ashes being blown away by the breeze.

The Nogitsune that looked just like him jumped off the top of the swung the blade once again, nearly catching Stiles in the cheek. His eyes widened in surprise and fear. Lydia pulled him back further.

"You honestly thought it would be so easy, didn't you?" the Nogitsune said tauntingly. "Stiles, have you learned nothing? Everyone has it, but no one can lose it."

"STOP!" Stiles shouted, trying to push Lydia behind him as she tried to do the same with him.

"I'm your shadow, Stiles. You can't lose me. You can't get rid of me. I've been here all this time, waiting for you to come out."

Lydia grabbed his hand and tried tugging him along. "Stiles, let's get out of here, come on."

"And how do you plan to do that, Lydia?" the Nogitsune asked. "Which way is the exit?" it said, making a wide gesture with one arm. Lydia and Stiles turned around and tensed. There was not just one door now, there were dozens, identical, spread out around the clearing. Even if she knew the general direction where the original door had been, she couldn't be quite certain which one it was.

"What do you plan to do if you get out through the right door? Because I will still be here, waiting. I'm not going anywhere. I'll be there when you fall asleep, Stiles. And every time you wake up screaming, every time you feel like you've woken up but can't be sure that you are truly awake, I'll be there. You can't escape, Stiles. You can't get rid of me."

Stiles turned, desperate to look away from the creature bearing his own image. He pulled Lydia along and ran toward the nearest door. He yanked it open, but it was just a door standing in the middle of the forest, leading nowhere. And so did the next one, and the next one. There was finally only one door left. It was ajar. Just beyond it, Lydia could almost see the inside of Stiles's room. But as soon as they made a dash for it, the door slammed shut. They both reached for the handle and jiggled it vigorously. It was locked.

"Am I doing this?" Stiles asked under his breath, frightened.

"I don't know," she answered, just as perplexed. They started banging on the door, slamming their bodies against it, but it wouldn't budge.

"I find myself quite comfortable here," the Nogitsune's voice interrupted them. They turned carefully toward it, clasping each other's hands. The figure sat down cross-legged on top of the Nemeton, still wielding the katana. It twirled it a couple of times, and the sword suddenly vanished into thin air. The Nogitsune gave a mirthless chuckle before jumping off.

"I couldn't have found a better host, you might say. Despite what most people seem to think, even people who claim to hold you in esteem, you are capable of a lot of things. You are stronger, smarter, faster than people think. And there is an advantage to being underestimated like that."

The Nogitsune smirked. "And the best part of all... Your misery. Your self-deprecation. Your constant fear of underperformance, of inadequacy, of becoming a nuisance. It's all so... delicious."

"Don't listen to it, Stiles. We have to think about how we're going to get out of here," Lydia said to him, clutching his hand tighter.

"But how?" Stiles asked.

"But those feelings, those fears, they don't just go away, do they? They can only get worse. Since you killed your own mother," the Nogitsune seethed.

"SHUT UP!" Lydia and Stiles shouted in unison, both sounding braver than they felt. The Nogitsune simply smiled, as if relishing their anger.

"Poor, poor, tortured soul. Do you even know how long you've been holed up in your own mind? The more you grieved down there with your memories, the more powerful I became. Have you any idea of the chaos you have helped me unleash? It's magnificent."

"It's not true, Stiles," Lydia reassured him. "Everyone is okay. It's not too late. We can still stop it. We have to stop it now."

"Are you so ungrateful, Stiles?" the Nogitsune asked, a look of betrayal on its face. "I gave you strength, I made you powerful, invincible. Who do you think is keeping you alive? They stabbed you to death, did you know that? Did she tell you? They put a sword through us, through _your_ body," it spat angrily, pointing at its own chest, then at Stiles.

Stiles looked down, his eyes wide and terrified, and he gasped in shock and fear. Lydia looked down too and nearly screamed. There was a deep, horrible wound in the middle of his chest, just like the one Noshiko had inflicted on him back in the real world, except this one was bleeding profusely. Blood gushed all over the front of Stiles's clothes. He clutched at the wound with trembling hands, pulling them away to stare at the stains of blood, his own blood. He started gasping with shallow breaths and making unintelligible noises.

"NO! No, Stiles, it's not real!" Lydia shouted desperately. "It's not!"

But Stiles could barely tear his eyes away from the sight of his own blood. He stumbled backward, stopping when his back hit a tree, and slid down to the ground. Lydia reached out to him, and he grabbed on to her wrist, his hand staining her skin with his blood. Lydia gasped and stared in horror. The blood felt incredibly real, warm and sticky. She looked at Stiles's panicked, paling face, at the thin trickle of blood starting at the corner of his lips. "It's not..." she repeated feebly.

The Nogitsune was nodding. "You should be dead right now. They wanted you dead. But I saved you. I healed you. You would have died without me, and you're going to die without me." It approached slowly. "You're going to die soon, anyway. Your mind is slowly turning against you. You know it, you can feel it. Every nightmare that you have, every hallucination, it signals the imminent demise of your mind. Soon you will lose every thought, every one of your precious memories. Until you're an empty shell, the husk of a once human boy. Is that what you want, Stiles? Do you want to go through that? Do you want to end up just like your dear mom? Would you put the people who claim to love you through the agony of watching you slowly go insane?"

The Nogitsune crouched in front of them, looking directly into Stiles's frightened eyes. Lydia stared in awe and shock, the two figures like mirror images, yet so vastly different.

"I can save you," the Nogitsune said, with a hint of compassion that was too obviously fake. "I can keep you alive, keep you healthy. You need me," it added.

To Lydia's relief, Stiles shook his head vigorously, even though he was trembling, hands still clutching at the open wound on his torso. "No, no I don't. I never needed you. I never wanted this," he said between feeble gasps. "I'd rather die than let you use me anymore."

"You're not going to die, Stiles," Lydia said, gripping his arm. "Do not believe a word it says."

The Nogitsune's eyes fleeted toward her, then back at Stiles, with a very convincing expression of confusion. For a moment it looked nothing like the monster that had been terrorizing them, and every bit like Stiles himself.

"How do you even know if _she's_ real?" it said.

Lydia glanced at Stiles, and he looked back at her, uncertain. Lydia shook her head.

"No, no... no, Stiles-"

"How do you know if she's not a figment of your imagination?"

Stiles kept glancing between the Nogitsune and her, and Lydia grabbed his arm harder.

"No, Stiles, I'm real. I'm really here. You know I am," she said, sounding more and more desperate. But as his confusion grew, he seemed to also be in more and more pain.

"Can you even trust your own mind, Stiles?"

"Stiles, I'm real! I swear! You have to believe me!"

The Nogitsune pushed her away violently, and she landed a few feet away. She sat up, hissing with pain. The Nogitsune grabbed Stiles by the shoulders and shook him gently.

"Do you really think that she would have risked her life like this, coming here into your sick, hopeless mind? For what? You know she doesn't care that much for you. How could she?"

"Don't listen to it, Stiles! I do care about you! I came here for you!" she shouted, standing up and running toward them. The Nogitsune stood up in a flash and caught her by the front of her jacket and sent her flying backwards again. This time she bumped her head on the ground. It took her a moment to get her bearings.

"Stiles, please..." she said feebly, trying to sit up. "I'm real. I'm your anchor."

"Really, Stiles, this fabrication of your mind is just you clinging to some false hope," the Nogitsune said in what she guessed was supposed to be a comforting voice. "But the truth is, everyone's given up on you. You're not needed anymore. The people who were supposed to love you are ready to move on. And so should you."

"STILES!"

Stiles didn't move. He clenched his eyes closed, his body shaking with silent sobs. Thick tears escaped the corner of his eyes, and his trembling hands slowly slid off from his torso, covered in thick, browning blood. His clothes were heavily stained, and he looked pale and weak.

The Nogitsune seemed to smile triumphantly before standing up, towering over a dying Stiles.

"Very well. Let's start over, shall we?"

Stiles opened his eyes in time to see the Nogitsune pick up a long, thick chain and start tugging at it and walking toward the Nemeton. Stiles suddenly howled in terrible pain; the chain was connected to a bear trap that was caught on Stiles's left foot.

She scrambled to her feet, witnessing in horror as he was dragged across the ground. His bloodied hands tried to grab onto anything, yelling curses and screaming in agony.

"It's not real, Stiles! Your mind makes it real!" she shouted, trying to think of what to do. She was no match for the Nogitsune. She was sure she couldn't just keep screaming at it.

She had a quick, panicked thought. What if she had just made everything worse? What if she had dragged Stiles out of the safety of his memories and exposed him to the lunatic mythological creature once again? What if he died at the hands of the Nogitsune_ in his own mind_?

Could that happen?

She tried to think quickly. She had to stop it.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw something, lying in plain sight on the grass. Without hesitating, she picked it up. She turned to the Nogitsune and ran toward it, Stiles's baseball bat in hand, and swung at it with all her might.

The Nogitsune didn't see her coming, and it stumbled backward, seemingly unhurt but swaying back and forth like a regular human taken by surprise. Before it could react, Lydia swung at it again. And again. The Nogitsune dropped the chain. The bear trap disappeared entirely.

Stiles stopped screaming and looked up in surprise as well.

"How did you do that?"

"I'm just improvising. I really have no idea!" she said nervously, backing away. She looked at Stiles and felt relieved. The wound on his chest was gone, as was all the blood. He looked down as well, not believing his eyes.

"Come on!" she shouted, helping him up to his feet and they broke into a sprint out of the clearing. Lydia glanced quickly behind them to check on the Nogitsune, standing up unharmed. She turned her eyes back to the forest ahead, as she and Stiles kept running.

"_Where do you intend to run when there's nowhere else to go?_" the Nogitsune's voice boomed behind them, echoing through the woods. Lydia and Stiles nearly stumbled. Where were they going to go? They were heading back the way they came from, distancing themselves from the exit. How were they to get past the Nogitsune anyway? They were going to have to take it out somehow.

"_Stiles,_" the Nogitsune called, but it wasn't shouting anymore. They heard it as a disembodied voice rumbling around them like thunder. "_Stiles, you can't run. You can't escape from this. All you can do is accept it. We are bound together now. We are one. I am your shadow._" The echo seemed to grow in intensity as it spoke, reverberating in the trees, in the ground, in their bodies. Lydia felt dizzy for a moment and slowed down, and Stiles used his free hand to cover one ear, to no avail.

"_I am your shadow, Stiles. I am your spirit. Let me in, Stiles. Let. Me. In._"

Stiles stopped altogether, letting go of Lydia's hand, and crouched beside a tree, both hands clamped tightly over his ears. Lydia turned back and ran to his side."

"What do we do? What do we do?" he asked desperately, squeezing his eyes shut. His breath was coming out in short gasps.

"Just calm down, Stiles. We'll think of something," she said, her hands on his knees as she looked around frantically, for a clue on what to do, and for signs of the Nogitsune.

"We don't have time. We have... nowhere to go," Stiles argued, his gasps becoming more pronounced. She was sure he was having a panic attack. She felt like she was about to have one too.

He suddenly closed his eyes and held his breath. She watched him, and without thinking it she did the same. A few seconds passed, and then he let it out, and visibly relaxed a little. Lydia felt the same.

"Did you just stop your own panic attack?" she asked quietly.

"I remembered what you said last time, about holding my breath," he looked at her and smiled feebly. Lydia nodded, remembering the kiss vividly, as if she had passed by the memory once again. As if she had relived it.

"You can still get out," Stiles said after a moment, his voice hoarse and deep. Lydia's face fell, and he looked away. "I'll distract it while you go to the door. And when you get back, you can kill me. For real this time. And it will be over."

"You can't be serious."

"Yes, I am," he looked at her again, his eyes full of tears. "I was serious back there. I would rather die than let it use me anymore. Please just kill me. Please. This was all my fault anyway. I have to stop it-"

"It is not your fault!" she said, angry, her throat tightening painfully.

"If something happens to you, I will never forgive myself," he continued, looking into her eyes for a moment, begging her to listen. "I really can't thank you enough for trying to save me, but we both know that I lost this battle the moment it started."

Lydia shook her head as he spoke. "Stiles, I need to tell you something."

"I don't think we have time. If you don't get out of here soon, the Nogitsune will do something awful to you, and I can't let anything happen to you."

"And I'm supposed to just-?" Her voice became louder, high-pitched; her eyes stung with hot tears. "You're asking me to leave you! I can't just leave you!"

"Please, just do it. Please..."

"No," she grabbed his face, forcing him to look at her. "Listen to me," she swallowed hard, taking a deep breath before she started talking again. "You can't just give up like this. You can't. I didn't come all this way to just- It's- I can't go back without you. I can't. I'm supposed to pull you back, okay? So you're going to have to come back. Because-" she swallowed again, her breath hitching in her throat, "because I love you, Stiles, and I need you to come back."

He looked straight into her eyes after she said it, his lips falling slightly open in surprise, silently gazing at her, and Lydia simultaneously felt like a weight had fallen out of her chest only to be replaced by a burning sensation. Like her heart actually ached.

"I need you. We all do," she continued, and instinctively fell forward into his arms, her own arms wrapping around his chest. "Please don't leave us. Please don't leave me like this. I love you. You can't just give up."

She breathed deeply into the skin of his neck, her hot tears trickling down her face and into his shirt. She felt his arms suddenly wrap around her, hesitant, and she trembled. She lifted her face slightly to look at him and her lips grazed his jaw and she felt an overwhelming need to kiss him, kiss his face, kiss any part of him, anything to reinforce to him that she was telling the truth, that she was real and she was there and she loved him and she wouldn't let him go. Stiles turned his face toward hers and he looked like he might kiss her, want to kiss her, but it wasn't until her lips were on his that he wrapped a hand around her neck and pulled her even closer, breathing deeply, in synch with her, with their eyes closed and no space between their bodies.

It wasn't very long before she sensed that something bad was about to happen. She pulled back, breathless, stared at him, eyes wide.

A second later, there was a loud creaking just behind them, and Lydia jumped to her feet, pulling Stiles along. The tree behind them started to crunch loudly, and then it was falling toward them, completely uprooted. They both tried to push each other out of the way at the same time, but Stiles was stronger. Lydia lost her footing and rolled out of the way, lifting herself onto her elbows in time to see the tree crash to the ground. Stiles tripped and didn't manage to get completely out of the way, and a large branch landed on his left foot, trapping it.

"Oh shit!" he wailed, his fingers digging into the ground in pain. Lydia stood up and rushed toward him, but her path was cut off by the Nogitsune. The creature grabbed her by the neck, just like it had done on that first encounter in the woods, and just as easily started choking her. Lydia gasped. Her fingers dug into its arm in a futile attempt to stop it.

"Let her go!" Stiles shouted, his own voice choked in his throat. He was pushing and tugging at the branch, trying to free himself.

"I have had it with this bitch," the Nogitsune hissed dangerously, fingers squeezing her throat. "I do not have time for you and your shit anymore, princess."

Lydia tried to kick it, punch its arms, but the Nogitsune was way too strong, and she was growing weaker and weaker by the second. "But I do have to thank you. I did promise to kill you slowly and painfully and have Stiles watch. I get to keep my promise, and I get to feed off his pain. This will surely devastate him, don't you think? You should have thought this through before your tearful love confession. Now you'll die and he will go insane with grief. Perfect."

"NO! LYDIA!"

Lydia could feel the life leaving her body, feel a darkness overcoming her...

Just then, a massive lightning struck a nearby tree near the middle, slicing it in two. The upper part of the trunk slowly tipped toward them, and the Nogitsune dropped Lydia instantaneously and moved out of the way. Lydia fell to the ground, coughing and gasping. The tree came down with a loud crash.

The Nogitsune turned to Stiles, still trapped under the tree branch, and glared.

"How did you do that?" it demanded. Stiles looked just as shocked.

"I don't know! I improvised!"

"Do it again, Stiles!" Lydia shouted weakly, trying to stand up, her knees buckling. The Nogitsune grabbed Stiles by his hair and yanked him out from under the tree. Screaming, Stiles reached down to his injured ankle, but the Nogitsune planted a foot down on it first.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Lydia shouted, the words nearly ripping her throat apart.

The Nogitsune pressed down harder, and Stiles nearly choked with his screams.

Another massive lightning bolt landed only a few feet away from them, and the Nogitsune backed away, frightened. Lydia stared in shock. Was Stiles really doing that?

The Nogitsune grabbed Stiles by his neck and lifted him off the ground, just like it had done with Lydia. "Well, if you plan to take me out like that, you're going to have to electrocute yourself as well."

Stiles coughed and gargled, but he spoke anyway. "Okay," he wheezed, and looked up at the sky.

From the dark, menacing sky, one huge, crackling bolt of lightning descended, striking the Nogitsune and knocking it down on the spot. Stiles was catapulted back with the force of the lightning. Lydia jumped over the fallen tree and fell to her hands and knees and crawled toward Stiles, cradling his head in her lap. Her held her breath as she stared down at him; he had scorch marks on his arms and chest; looked just like he had looked back in the real world, when they thought he was dead. No, not like this, please, she thought in a panic.

"Stiles? Stiles!" she shouted. She glanced nervously at the Nogitsune. Smoke billowed from its clothes, and it lay completely still. Could it be dead? The lightning wasn't a Kitsune's bolt of lightning, so maybe not. But then why...

Stiles gave a loud gasp and coughed, and Lydia breathed again and bent down to kiss his forehead. He looked up at her.

"Did I die?" She shook her head, half angry and half relieved.

"No, but would you stop trying to get killed?"

The wind suddenly picked up, and they both looked up at the Nogitsune. Stiles's doppelganger lay lifeless of the ground, but something started rising from it, like a dark thick smoke, hovering over the body like a cloud.

"Oh my god..." they both said.

"We gotta go! We gotta go! We gotta go!" Stiles said, sitting up. Lydia helped him up. His ankle looked terrible. She supported him on one side and they started running back toward the clearing, as fast as they could with Stiles limping, while glancing apprehensively over their shoulders as the smoke cloud grew bigger and denser. The body below it dissolved in a pile of ash, like the bandaged figure.

"What the hell is that?" Stiles asked as they moved. The wind was picking up, louder and more violent.

"It looks like what came out of your body when you were stabbed with the katana, and then went back in. It's the void. It must be the Nogitsune's true form."

"How do I get it out?" he asked.

Lydia tried to think. This was not a part of the plan, Deaton hadn't told her what to do. She thought back to everything they knew about the Nogitsune and got an idea.

"We have to seal it inside the Nemeton again. It's the only thing powerful enough to hold it, That's where Kira's mom trapped it," Lydia explained, gasping with exhaustion. Stiles stared at her, confused. "I'll explain later, when we wake up!"

Stiles didn't look so confident.

They reached the clearing, spotted the door, and made a mad dash toward it. Behind them, they heard the ominous echo of something approaching, like a deafening whooshing. Lydia stretched her free hand toward the doorknob, but curiosity won over and she looked back. The giant cloud shaped like a fox would hit them in a second.

Lydia screamed, so loud and deafening that she couldn't even hear the wind in her ears for a moment.

Stiles turned around and fixed the fox-shaped cloud with his eyes. Literally. The cloud slowed down and stilled, like it had been reigned to a stop, hovering over the Nemeton. Stiles stood squarely in front of Lydia, in front of the door, even with his bad ankle, and stared the fox down.

"What are you going to do now, Stiles?" the fox mocked him in the disembodied voice.

"I'm going to send you back where you came from," Stiles replied coolly. The fox didn't move. It merely seemed to grow, as if trying to burst out of the invisible bubble that Stiles had somehow created around it to trap it.

Lydia watched in shock as Stiles shot forward, limping toward the Nemeton, and landing roughly on top of it. She nearly screamed again when she saw the Nogitsune attempt to throw itself at him, but Stiles had already reached toward in the very middle of the tree stump, grabbing a very small shrub growing in the middle of it and yanking it out. It was like pulling out a plug, Lydia figured, because as soon as he did that, the Nemeton became a vacuum. The Nogitsune let out a deafening, echoing roar as it started being sucked down into it. Dozens upon hundreds of fireflies came out of the creases of the tree stump, swarming around the cloud of smoke, until they were so tightly wrapped around it that it was barely visible.

Lydia didn't want to wait to see what happened next. She hoped that would do the trick for now, but what she really wanted was to get through the door with Stiles, before anything else could happen. She shouted to him over the deafening wind, over the roaring of the Nogitsune, and the vacumm slowly sucking it back down into the Nemeton, and reached for him. Stiles stood up slowly, hypnotized, until Lydia pulled him along, and he turned his attention to her. She helped him walk back toward the door as quickly as possible, and they took one last glance at the clearing before opening it. The cloud disappeared into the Nemeton, as did the fireflies.

The wind pushed Stiles and Lydia violently into the door, and it took them a moment to be able to close it again. As soon as the door clicked close, the noise stopped, the darkness enveloped them, and they were falling. Lydia was so taken by surprise, that her scream drowned in her throat.

* * *

Lydia had that horrible sensation of falling in your sleep, except it was longer and more terrifying. Suddenly, she hit a flat surface and jerked violently. She felt solid all of a sudden, like she had momentarily been made out of mist and fog, and every sensation was ten times more vivid and real. Her body felt heavy and cold, but in a good way. Her eyes snapped open.

She was back in the clearing, lying on the ground. It was daytime, and she was staring at blindingly white skies and swaying tree tops. She was awake again.

"Lydia?" she heard a voice overhead ask. It took her half a second to focus her eyes, but suddenly she knew it was Deaton, hovering over her, his face preoccupied.

"Did it work?" she asked breathlessly.

A sudden, thunderous noise like an explosion disoriented her again. There were voices and screams all around, unintelligible shouts, and she saw something dark and ominous looming over her. Lydia screamed, scrambling to get up. Deaton tried pulling her out of harm's way, but when she sat up, she saw Stiles, still lying beside her, his eyes closed, and she instinctively threw her body over his.

"NOW, KIRA!" she head Noshiko Yukimura shout. Lydia lifted her face enough to watch Kira leaping forward, wielding her katana high in the air. Lydia twisted her neck to follow her, and saw as the young Kitsune charging at a large shadowy figure; the smoke cloud shaped like a giant black fox had burst out of the Nemeton, materializing in front of them. It barely registered in Lydia's mind that Stiles's trick had worked, that he had managed to push the Nogitsune out of his mind and back into the material world somehow, through the Nemeton.

Kira stabbed forward into the cloud of smoke, which looked surprisingly solid. The Nogitsune roared even louder, and Kira's eyes started glowing bright amber. Her whole body started crackling with electricity, more and more, until there were bolts actually coursing through her arms and down the blade of the katana. The Nogitsune's roars were deafening.

"Everybody get back! Get down!" Noshiko shouted, and everyone obeyed, pushing back into the trees and kneeling on the ground.

"Lydia!" Scott shouted from where he and the others were crouching out of harm's way.

"LYDIA!" Allison screamed, frightened.

Lydia watched in awe as the fox, the void, seemed to be unaffected by Kira's attack. The girl seemed to be struggling to keep the katana in place, groaning from the effort of her own power. The fox grew larger and larger by the second, and then, just like Stiles had done inside his mind, a lightning bolt came down from the clear white sky itself. Lydia felt like she was watching in slow motion as the massive bolt zig-zagged down onto the fox.

It was like a chemical reaction. The smoke monster seemed to contract, as if shriveling into itself away from the brightness of the lightning, before it started to dissolve. Slowly at first, and then with a boom, bursting like an explosion in every direction. Kira crouched before she could topple off the Nemeton.

Lydia looked away quickly, laying down on top of Stiles, shielding him and herself. She felt the whoosh of air and smoke and dust and leaves sweeping over them. She felt tiny pebbles and bits of wood pelt her skin. The ground underneath them rumbled, and the entire forest shook with the force. The air around the was hot, from the smoke and the lightning. Then everything became silent and still.

Kira stood suddenly alone on top of the Nemeton, the monster gone. There were angry scorch marks on the surface of the tree stump, but Kira herself appeared to be unharmed. She let out a little squeal of surprise and shock, swaying on the spot as if she couldn't believe she had survived, and looked down.

Floating feebly above the tree stump was a single fly, looking dazed and injured. Kira snatched it in a flash with her hand, holding it inside her closed fist. Noshiko and Deaton got up quickly and ran toward her. Deaton quickly produced a wooden cylinder with a thick clasp, and opened it. Kira tossed the fly inside and the doctor quickly snapped it shut and clasped it safely.

"You did it, Kira. You did it," Noshiko said tearfully, hugging her daughter.

Lydia tried to calm her breathing, feeling like her heart would burst out of her chest. She was afraid to get up, afraid to see what had happened. The Nogitusne was gone, but maybe, just maybe, Stiles was still dead. She pressed her body closer to his, wondering how long she could stay like that before someone tried to pry her off.

The body underneath hers stirred slightly. Lydia gasped, feeling his chest heave a little as he took a breath. She pushed herself onto her elbows and looked at his face. Stiles opened his eyes as if he were just waking up from a dream.

"Hey," he whispered breathlessly, just as surprised as her.

Lydia's eyes filled with tears. She had done it, she had found him and brought him back, and he was here, safe and sound.

Without regard for the others watching, Lydia grabbed his face gently and kissed him.

* * *

_I made it. I totally made it! Now for the epilogue or whatever! I can't believe I'm almost done!_

_Please review if you liked it, didn't like it, just want to say hi, or whatever._

_-Vale. _


	16. Chapter 16

_Uh, okay, so I split the last chapter into two, because it came out really long, BUT I posted them back to back. Hope you enjoy it. Hope something like this happens soon in the series too._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf, but if I did, the season finale would have ended with a big STYDIA BANG! (not like that, you dirty, dirty minds)._

* * *

**Found**

Chapter 16

_by HappyValentina_

As soon as everyone realized that Stiles was alive, they practically threw themselves at the pair. Allison nearly squeezed all the air out of Lydia. Scott and the Sheriff carefully helped Stiles sit up before nearly tackling him back down in a big hug. Stiles was still so disoriented that he could barely react. His father kissed the top of his head over and over, crying and mumbling things. Scott was crying too. Melissa pushed her way through to hug Stiles before going into full nurse mode, checking his vitals.

Stiles started looking around at everyone, as if to make sure no one was hurt, and looked relieved. Then, all at once, everything started to hurt. He groaned and hissed and flinched away from her as Melissa examined the wound on his chest, and his ankle, and became slightly alarmed.

"We have to get you to the hospital!" she announced.

"What? What is it?" Stiles asked, looking scared.

"Um, nothing too serious, but I just... um, you should be in a lot more pain than this," Melissa said. "And you're freezing! I mean, Jesus, Stiles, you basically just died and came back to life."

"Jesus Stiles, that could be his nickname, very appropriate," Isaac joked. Allison hit him on the shoulder. "What? I'm trying to lighten the mood, we're all very uptight right now. Everything's fine now, Kira killed the Nogitsune and no one died." He shrugged. "Well, no one _stayed_ dead."

"Would you cut it out?" Allison said, half angry and half laughing. Lydia rolled her eyes.

"If you call me 'Jesus' I will smite you with lightning too, see how you like it," Stiles said, wincing.

Melissa clapped her hands and stood up. "Okay, let's just get these kids out of here. Isaac, stop making bad jokes and help out. We need to get Stiles to the Sheriff's car and get him to the hospital stat. Kira, Lydia, both of you should get yourselves to the ER as well. Everyone who is not an auto-healing werewolf should get themselves checked."

Scott and Isaac helped Stiles up and half carried him through the forest toward the entrance to the reserve, where the patrol car was waiting. Sheriff Stilinski and Melissa walked just ahead of them, asking Stiles too many questions that he was still too disoriented to answer.

"Need help?" Derek asked Lydia and Kira, as the two girls stared walking after the party.

"I'm fine," Kira replied with a smile before turning to Lydia. "Are you okay?"

Lydia was still a little dizzy, owing it up to the sedative Deaton had given her, but she couldn't complain. "I'm okay too. Just... stay with me in case I faint or something."

Derek nodded, gesturing for the twins to go ahead. "You guys coming?" Derek asked Deaton and Noshiko, who were still standing by the Nemeton.

"You go ahead, we have something we have to do right now," Deaton said, gesturing to the wooden box in his hands, and toward the Nemeton. Noshiko nodded.

"We will be there as soon as we're done. In the meantime, please make sure my daughter gets herself checked out by the doctors, and that she does everything they tell her," she said. Kira rolled her eyes.

"And you just make sure that this time that thing can't get out," Chris said, before leading the rest of the group through the forest after the others.

"Come on, let's go get some breakfast," Allison said, putting an arm around her best friend's shoulders.

* * *

Allison stayed with Lydia in the emergency room. Lydia and Kira were both forced by Melissa to have emergency checkups. Kira was completely fine, owing it up to her Kitsune powers that anything that might have happened to her was now completely healed.

As for Lydia, she was only human. There were bruises, scrapes and cuts all over her body that she couldn't remember getting. There were also angry marks on her neck from when the Nogitsune had tried to strangle her. But that had been in Stiles's head. How were they still there?

Melissa came in to inform them of the developments. Stiles would have to undergo surgery for his broken ankle. He also had burn marks over his body, and the wound on his chest had not been completely healed by the Nogitsune. There was at least no internal bleeding, but they had to stitch it properly, otherwise it could easily open again or leave a horrible scar. He was also mildly hypothermic and underfed. After all, the Nogitsune didn't need Stiles to be well fed to function; all it needed was for him to be miserable.

But the most remarkable thing was the fractal scars around the wound on his chest.

"Fractal scars? Are you sure?" Lydia asked in amazement.

"What are fractal scars?" Allison asked, puzzled.

"They're a series of reddish scars that people get when they survive being struck by lightning," Melissa explained. "But was he?"

Lydia shrugged. "I mean... it happened in his head... just like my bruises, and his ankle... I don't..."

"Is that even possible? Getting injured in your dream and then having that same injury in real life?" Allison asked. Lydia shook her head slowly, unsure.

"Well, it wasn't really a dream, so... maybe?"

Lydia would have to ask Deaton about it later. She tried recalling the things she knew about Bardo, hoping that maybe it could explain it, but her head hurt, so she tried to think of something else.

After getting taken care of, and given some painkillers, Lydia was free to go, so she joined the others in the waiting room, coming in just as Melissa was giving them the update: Stiles's surgery would last about thirty minutes, he'd spend about an hour in the recovery unit, and then they would put him in a room; then everyone could go see him.

"So the doctor will come talk to you about all the things he's not allowed to do for a while, and when he might be able to go home and everything," Melissa said, suddenly talking to the Sheriff. "As soon as he's out of the OR I'll come get you, okay?"

Melissa gave his forearm a gentle squeeze and a reassuring smile. The Sheriff nodded, breathing deep.

"Lydia!" Scott exclaimed when she came in. The Sheriff and Melissa turned to look at her and she smiled sheepishly.

"Lydia, sweetie, you shouldn't be up and about!" Melissa scolded her. "You should stay lying down for a while. I'll call your mom to come pick you up."

Lydia shook her head. "No, I'm alright. I feel fine. I'm just going to wait with all of you."

"Are you sure? You look a little pale, and you must be exhausted."

"Look, I really just want to..." she bit her lip and turned bright red. "I just want to be here when... you know... when Stiles wakes up."

Melissa smiled knowingly and nodded. The Sheriff gave another sigh and pulled Lydia into a hug, taking her by surprise, making her go even redder.

"Thank you for saving my son," he whispered. Lydia patted his shoulder.

"Sure, anytime..." she said awkwardly, sparking a chuckle from the Sheriff.

Thirty long minutes later, he disappeared with Melissa into the recovery unit. Stiles was doing fine, but he'd would have to stay a few days in the hospital, until his health was completely restored.

Deaton and Mrs. Yukimura arrived after a while. Mrs Yukimura fussed over Kira before answering how things had gone with the Nemeton.

"It's done. It's sealed. It's going to take a few hundred years more before it can even begin to recover from this. So I don't think we have to worry about it anymore," Deaton said.

"The box was made with the same wood of the Nemeton, which Dr. Deaton himself made. It's lined with rowan and ash. It's very well protected," Noshiko said, then looked ashamed. "Is Stiles okay?"

"He will be, mom. It's okay. We're all okay."

The group took turns going to the cafeteria to have breakfast. Lydia and Scott refused to move, however, so Isaac and Allison had to bring them something to eat. After everything that had happened, Lydia was surprised at how her stomach growled when she saw the grilled cheese sandwich and coffee, and she and Scott wolfed down their respective breakfasts as if they hadn't eaten in days.

"Feeling better?" Allison asked. Lydia didn't know how to convey just how relieved she was with the outcome of things. It almost felt like everything would finally return to some semblance of normalcy. They lived in Beacon Hills, after all. Normalcy was not an option.

She would, however, feel much better once she could see Stiles and talk to him, but she didn't want to voice that out loud, not even to Allison.

"I'm going to the bathroom," she announced monotonously, and glanced at her friend. "Do you mind coming with?"

Allison got up without hesitation and followed Lydia to the nearest ladies' restroom. Allison went to the toilet, while Lydia faced the huge mirror and stared at herself long and hard. She felt like a hot mess; she looked paler than usual, her hair was all over the place, and her eyes looked puffy and had dark circles underneath, from all the crying she had done all morning and from not having a proper night's sleep in days. Plus there was the state of her dress, her coat, grass stains, dirt, and all the cuts and bruises on her skin. But the ghastliest of all were the stark purple marks on her neck. She opened one of the taps and proceeded to splash water on her face several times, hissing in pain with every move.

"You're going to have to tell me the whole story later," Allison said from inside the stall. The toilet flushed, and she came out and stood next to Lydia to wash her hands. "I know you might not want to talk about it right now, but just so you know, whenever you feel like it, you can call me or we can meet and you can tell me all about it."

"Sure, whatever," Lydia said, grabbing some paper towels to dry herself. She looked at her reflection again and made a face.

"I'm just saying, you know, when you feel like it, you can-" Allison stopped and looked concerned. "Are you okay? You look like you might be sick."

"Do I?" Lydia asked, panicking.

"I mean, you just made a face. Is it the painkillers, or breakfast?"

"Oh, no, I'm okay, I just..." she took a deep breath. "You wouldn't happen to have any lipgloss or tinted chapstick with you, would you?"

Allison looked puzzled for a moment, a curious smile playing on her lips. "Um... tinted chapstick?"

"I look a little pale, I need something to fix it."

"Oh, I think you look fine," Allison said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "In fact, you look as if you haven't just been to Bardo and back at all. Except, obviously, for that tiny stitch on your forehead... and the, uh, the twig on your hair."

Lydia turned to the mirror and became flustered, checking her hair again and finding said twig. She pulled it out and tossed it into the garbage bin with an angry huff.

"What's wrong, Lyd? You seem tense. More than the rest of us, at least," her friend asked as Lydia started pacing in front of the mirror.

"It's just I kind of want to go home and take a shower and change my clothes and make myself presentable once again, but I also kind of just want to stay here with you guys and see Stiles before I can go home and relax completely." She gave another huff. "You know, I feel icky but I also don't want to be by myself."

"I understand."

"Do you at least have a hair brush or a comb?" Lydia asked, sounding more and more desperate with every glance at her reflection. Allison put a hand on her shoulder to make her stop moving so much.

"Lydia, if you want to go home, just go. You can come back later."

"I don't. That's the... ugh, I just..." She leaned against the wall and looked up at the ceiling. "I just don't feel like my usual self. I need to feel or at least look like my usual self. That's all. I feel like I've been wearing this dress and this coat for three days in a row, and I feel naked without my lip stain."

Allison's smile became even wider and her eyes were twinkling. "Lydia, are you... worried about how you'll look when you see Stiles?"

"No," Lydia said after a beat, but her hesitation and the blush that appeared on her cheeks betrayed her. "I just hate looking like a slob, that's all."

"You know he won't care, right? You know you're beautiful all the time, with or without makeup, with messy hair or not, and he's not going to care one bit." Allison pushed her gently toward the mirror again. "You know what you look like? You look like the girl who just risked her life to bring him back to life. You look badass. I'm pretty sure he's just going to be so incredibly happy to see you."

Lydia didn't know if that made her happy or sad or just embarrassed.

"He loves you, you know?"Allison continued. "I used to think he was just 'in love' with you, that maybe he just had this massive crush, but I'm pretty sure he _really_ loves you."

Lydia had an unsettling fluttery sensation in her stomach. Butterflies. "Why am I so nervous?"

"Well, I guess it might be because," Allison started, pulling Lydia's long hair back as neatly as possible and putting it over one shoulder, "you really like him."

"I'm pretty sure that's not even close. I... don't think I've ever felt like this about anyone else."

Allison's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Not even Jackson?"

Lydia shook her head. "Not even close."

Allison tried to contain a squeak and pulled her friend into a hug. Lydia sighed.

"It scares me," she said in a small voice. Allison stroked her hair affectionately.

"Yeah, it's scary. But _good_ scary, isn't it?"

Lydia nodded slowly. "Yeah."

* * *

When they came back from the bathroom, Melissa was guiding Sheriff Stilinski to another room, presumably Stiles's private room. Lydia's face fell at the idea of not getting to see Stiles just yet.

They were all starting to get restless. About another half hour had passed before Melissa came looking for Deaton and Mrs. Yukimura, saying that they needed to talk about important stuff. Lydia was dismayed once again, sitting back with a huff and fidgeting with the buttons on her coat. Beside her, Allison pretended to read a magazine while watching her amusedly out of the corner of her eye, and across from her, Scott leaned forward with his knees on his elbows, his leg jerking up and down in a nervous tic. Everyone else seemed much calmer.

When Lydia thought she would tear her lower lip apart with her teeth, Deaton and Mrs. Yukimura came back. She and Scott jumped up to their feet, and Deaton smirked at them.

"He looks well, he's feeling better. You can go see him now. I'm going to go home and sleep. If anyone needs me, you know where to reach me," he said, picking up his case with a tired groan.

"But wait! What did you talk about?" Scott asked.

"Just clearing things up, answering doubts. Assuring his father that Stiles will be okay now," Deaton replied. Mrs. Yukimura nodded.

"And I was able to apologize for the way I handled things," she said in a heavy tone. "At least things turned out well, despite everything. I will see you at home, Kira," she added, giving her daugther a hug.

Lydia rolled her eyes impatiently, walking around everyone and hurrying out of the waiting room.

"Lydia!" Aiden called from behind her. She stopped and turned, staring blankly at him.

"I'm going to go too. It's been a long few days and I need to clear my head," he said. "Besides, I feel like I have no business here anymore. And I don't like hospitals," he added half-jokingly.

Lydia gave a half-hearted chuckle. "I never thanked you for helping out, even if... you know."

Aiden nodded. "Maybe I'm not such a bad guy after all," he answered with a shrug and a smirk.

"No, you're not."

He looked around awkwardly for a moment, glancing over his shoulder then back at her. "So... I guess I'll see you around. Now that things have settled down, maybe Ethan and I will try to get some downtime, but you know, it never stays quiet for very long."

Lydia smiled faintly. "No, it doesn't."

Aiden held out a hand suddenly and smiled. "Friends?" Lydia felt a weight being taken from her arms. She took his hand and shook it gently.

"Friends," she agreed, relieved. Just because they weren't going out anymore didn't mean that they couldn't still be friends, especially if they constantly saw a lot of each other. But Lydia was sure she wasn't into him anymore, not because she thought he was a bad person, and not just because she never thought of him as a boyfriend but more like a friend with benefits, but because she was over going out with guys like that. She craved someone more meaningful in her life. She wanted a real boyfriend, someone who cared for her as much as she cared for him, in every possible way.

Aiden started to leave, then faced her again briefly. "Just in case, if that guy messes up, or you just get tired of him, you know I will-"

"Go away, Aiden," Lydia said with a roll of her eyes. He snickered as he continued walking away, and she decided that yes, she was definitively over him.

* * *

Lydia stood in front of Stiles's room, staring at the door, petrified. Scott looked at her worriedly.

"You okay?"

She snapped out of it and nodded. "Yeah, sure. You go in first."

He rubbed her arm and walked past her in to the room, greeting his best friend. Isaac, Kira and Ethan followed him. Chris held the door open for her and Allison, but Lydia wouldn't budge.

"Come on, Lydia," Allison said, but Lydia just waved for her to go in.

"Be right there."

"You alright?" Derek asked her. She nodded again vigorously.

"Just give me a minute."

He leaned against the wall next to the door, watching her, and she glared at him.

"I meant by myself."

"Stop thinking so much and just go in there," he said with a huff, pulling her gently by the arm. Lydia was about to protest when he opened the door and ushered her in ahead of him. The others were chattering loudly. Lydia stayed at the very back of the group, hiding behind Chris's towering frame.

"... didn't see it, but I take it it was pretty cool?" Stiles was saying. His voice sounded hoarse, but stronger and more animated than she had expected. She heard Kira's laugh.

"I wouldn't know, I was freaking out. I had never done that before, and it felt weird. But I kind of wish someone had caught it on video," she said.

"Aw man, someone should have thought of that!" Isaac exclaimed.

"Yeah right! I don't think we need recorded evidence of a girl conducting electricity at a big black fox-shaped cloud, those things always seem to end up in some seedy Youtube channel. Besides, I think we were all a little too concerned with what was happening," Scott replied.

"Seriously, it was kind of freaky, watching you two just laying there. You both looked dead, and we couldn't even do anything," Ethan said in a somber tone.

"Yeah, it felt like a long time of sitting there just waiting," Allison added.

"Deaton said it was about ten minutes, but I had already been trapped in my own head for, like, weeks," Stiles said, so nonchalantly.

"Weeks?" Scott asked.

"Time goes a little slower in your head. Or at least that's what he explained."

"So were you really in Bardo?" Kira asked.

"According to Deaton, yes. I've been stuck there since I opened the freaking door," Stiles said, sounding a little frustrated. "He says that's why I came back with a broken ankle and every single wound that I got inside my mind. You know, the mind makes it real."

"That sounds like 'The Matrix'," Isaac said.

"Precisely."

"Wait, can I look at it?" Scott asked. Lydia frowned in confusion and stood on tiptoe, staring over Chris's shoulder. She caught a glimpse of Stiles, pale skin and hair out of control, who rolled his eyes and smiled as he lifted the neck of his hospital gown as far as it would go. The kids all leaned in one by one to sneak a glance and their eyes widened.

"Oh wow! I know it's weird and awful but it's kind of cool," Scott said.

"It looks like a tree," Isaac said. Lydia assumed they were talking about the fractal scars.

"But I still don't get how it happened," Kira asked. "I mean, you're not a Thunder Kitsune... are you?"

Stiles gave an overly dramatic gasp. "Am I?" he said before breaking into a smile. "Nah, I'm not. I don't know how I did it. Deaton said it must have been instinct, like I subconsciously knew what to do to destroy it. Obviously since it wasn't the real deal, like real Kitsune thunder, it didn't destroy it completely, but it did help. It split us apart. And that's how I managed to get it out. Unfortunately when I struck the Nogitsune, I also, er, had to strike myself," he added, pointing to his chest.

"Does it hurt?" Allison asked concernedly. Stiles shook his head.

"Nothing really hurts right now. I'm so hooked up on painkillers that I can barely even feel my face."

"Well, good."

Stiles's face turned suddenly very serious. "Seriously, is Lydia okay?"

Allison looked around the room. "I told you she's fine. She was coming in a minute. Is she still outside?" Lydia felt her chest tighten, as well as her throat, but she tried to speak up.

"I'm here," she said quietly.

"Oh there she is!"

"Come on up, Lydia!"

Derek started pushing her forward, and the others made way for her. She was suddenly beside Stiles's bed, and she was sure she looked as awkward as she felt. Stiles, however, lit up when he saw her.

"Hi," she said quietly.

"Hey," he replied, and gingerly reached out to touch her chin, examining her neck and the bruises on it with saddened eyes. Up close, he looked better, more lively; Lydia had expected him to look worse for wear, to look more frail, like people often do on hospital beds. She hated hospitals, the smells, the lights, the sounds, everything, but right now she didn't want to be anywhere else.

"Are you well? Is everything okay with you?" he asked nervously. She shrugged.

"I guess I could be better, but you know... could also be worse."

He pressed his lips together and he looked at the others, and Lydia glanced at them too, watching them with interest. Allison seemed to be trying really hard to hide her smile.

As if on cue, Melissa and Sheriff Stilinski walked in and Melissa pushed her way through.

"Alright, kids, too many people in the room at once. He'll be here for a few days, so you can go, have a rest, and come back later with balloons and flowers and cards. Bear in mind that if you bring him candy, I will probably eat it."

Muttering and joking, the kids said goodbye to Stiles and the Sheriff. Scott promised to be back after taking a nap and a shower, and everyone else filtered slowly out of the room. Just as he and Allison were leaving, Chris turned to Lydia.

"Do you want us to give you a lift home?" he asked.

Before Lydia could answer, Sheriff Stilinski put a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, I'll drive her home when she's ready."

Allison hugged her friend, whispering in her ear very quietly. "Call me later and tell me all about it."

As soon as everyone had gone, Melissa started checking on Stiles, the IV and the bandages on Stiles's broken ankle, and arranging the pillows and sheets. She glanced quickly between Lydia and Stiles and shot a look at Sheriff Stilinski.

"Hey, I have some forms that I need you to sign, and you haven't had breakfast," she said in an all-too enthusiastic voice, walking to the door. Sheriff Stilinski opened the door for her and followed her out.

"Oh yeah, better get those two things taken care of right away," he replied in the same voice. He winked at Lydia before closing the door, and suddenly she was alone with Stiles.

There was a long silence, during which Lydia pretended to look around the room, and Stiles just played with the tape holding the IV needle into his skin. She finally mustered the courage to look at him.

"So, are you really feeling okay?" she asked sheepishly. Stiles smiled.

"Maybe this is just the painkillers talking," he started, "but I have never felt better."

"Good."

"Lydia, why did you do that?" Stiles asked in a very serious tone. "You go into my head while it's being possessed by a mythological megalomaniac creature? Were you trying to get yourself killed too?"

Lydia was failing miserably at appearing nonchalant.

"I told you, I'm your anchor. If there was someone who could pull you back, it was me."

"Don't ever do that again," he said, his voice hoarse and thick. "Don't even put yourself at risk like that. You remember what I told you. If you were to die, I would go out of my mind."

"I know," she said, getting angry. "But what was I supposed to do? I couldn't just leave you like that at the mercy of that thing. And you know what?" she paused and turned away, because her eyes welled up with tears and she felt her voice choke in her throat. "You- you have no right to complain about that, not after what you put me- us through. And I know it wasn't your fault, but- you freaking died in front of me, in front of us, and I did everything I could to revive you and you still... you..." she was blubbering now, choking with sobs. She was starting to sound hysterical and she didn't know how to stop. "And you have the gall to tell me off for- I had never been more- more-"

She heard a noise behind her and spun around quickly. Stiles had barely caught the IV stand in time after accidentally knocking it over, because he was trying to get out of bed. He had actually swung his legs over the edge of the mattress as if he were about to stand up, and Lydia frowned in confusion.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I was- I thought..." he started awkwardly.

"Are you trying to get up?"

"I was only trying to-"

"What the hell, Stiles! Stay in bed! You have a broken foot!"

"I just wanted to... to... I'm sorry for... I didn't mean to... I didn't mean to make you cry..."

Just like that, Lydia stopped crying. She sniffled loudly and wiped the tears off her cheeks.

"I'm sorry, I just... Maybe I nearly went out of my mind too," she said.

"I wouldn't blame you," he said, making no move to get back in bed. "After being attacked like that and taking a stroll through someone else's memories, I'd say anyone would go a little bit cuckoo."

"No, I mean..." she sighed deeply, "nearly losing you."

"You'll never lose me," he said with a faint smile. She shook her head.

"I almost did. I thought I did for a moment."

"I'm still here."

"I know," she said, feeling calmer now. She walked over to him and gestured for him to lie back down, and Stiles slumped his shoulders and obeyed. He lifted his feet back onto the mattress with a long hiss of pain, and just sat there for a moment.

"Ow, it didn't hurt this much a moment ago," he groaned.

"That's because you just let a lot of blood accumulate on your foot. You have to keep it raised, otherwise it's going to swell up again," she scolded him.

"I know, it was stupid," he replied, hissing again as he tried to lower himself back onto the pillows, but stopping for a moment, leaning on his elbows. Lydia stared intently at his chest.

"Can I see?"

"See what? The scars?" he asked, a little dumbfounded. She stood closer for emphasis, and saw him blush a little as he pulled at the neck of his hospital gown and leaned forward slightly to show her, and Lydia felt her cheeks get warm. This was ridiculous, she had stared at guys' naked chests before, many times, why was she so self-conscious about seeing Stiles's? And then her eyes raked down his pale, lean torso and the stitched up stab wound and the red fractal scars spreading across it like the drawing of a tree, and she really wanted to kiss him.

"Do you happen to know if these ever go away?" Stiles said, babbling nervously. "Not that I would mind keeping them. They're kinda cool. Harry Potter's got nothing on me. I feel like-"

Before he could finish the sentence, Lydia's lips were on his. She just wanted to kiss him and thread her fingers through his hair and feel him next to her. It had been a very long day, but the day was really just getting started, and she couldn't think of anything else she wanted to do more than just lie in bed with Stiles all day.

She started pushing him back against the pillows, but stopped when he hissed against her mouth. Lydia stood up quickly, eyes wide and panicked.

"Oh god, I hurt you!" she exclaimed. Stiles shook his head rapidly and smiled.

"No no no, I'm fine, I'm fine, I just..." he trailed off, cupping her face and kissing her again, and Lydia relaxed. She liked it when he kissed her too.

He suddenly stopped, leaning his forehead against hers, breathing heavy. She opened her eyes slowly, feeling exactly like she felt when they first kissed on the floor of the locker room.

He opened his eyes too, after a moment, and licked his lips.

"Does this mean that you... you were serious back there?" he asked in a low voice.

"Back where?" she asked, just as low and hoarse.

"Back in my head."

"You mean when I said that..." she laughed. "Of course I was serious."

He gave a low breathy chuckle, getting flustered. "I thought... maybe you just said that in, like, the- the heat of the moment, you know, to keep me going, to kind of, uh, convince me to keep fighting or-"

Lydia stared at him in indignation. "Did you think I would just say something like that without meaning it? What kind of person do you think I am?"

"I didn't... I don't... know... you're just so..."

"I'm so what?" she started, sounding a bit angrier than she felt. He shrugged and looked sheepish.

"You're... you. You're Lydia Martin. You're the smartest, coolest, bravest, most beautiful girl I've ever met, and you can have anyone you want, so... why would you ever fall in love with me?"

Lydia stared at him sadly, and it occurred to her that either the Nogitsune had really managed to get to Stiles's head, or Stiles was authentically so self-deprecating. She smiled confidently after a moment.

"You're right. I am all those things. And you bet I can have anyone I want," she started with a cock of her eyebrow, before putting her hands on either side of his neck, bringing her fingers gently to the back of his head and threading them through his hair. "And I want someone sweet, someone who's as smart as me, someone who is kind and noble, and good-looking, and funny, and brave. And it's taken me a ridiculously long time to realize that he was right in front of me all this time."

Stiles stared at her, wide-eyed and stunned into silence, and she took a deep breath before continuing.

"You're the one who told me that I didn't have to pretend to be someone I'm not, that I shouldn't have to dumb myself down for anyone. You're the one who keeps reminding me that I can do anything I set my mind to. I want that person." She smiled wider. "And we make a pretty good team, don't you think?"

Stiles looked like he was fighting the biggest smile that was threatening to slice his face in half.

"I love you too," he said after a beat. She rolled her eyes comically.

"I know," she said, and gestured for him to lie back down fully. He hissed again as he did, letting himself fall against the pillows, and Lydia busied herself by arranging the sheets and the pillows around him, while fighting the urge to smile too.

"So... will you visit me later?" he said after a pause. Lydia turned to him, shocked.

"Are you asking me to leave?"

"NO NO NO!" he said, eyes wide in panic. "No, I didn't-"

"Relax, Stiles. I was just kidding," she responded with a mischievous grin. He sighed and started babbling again.

"You can stay for as long as you want. You can sleep here if you want. Not that I want you to- I mean, not that I wouldn't like it, but just-"

Lydia started laughing, like she hadn't laughed in days. "I get it, don't hurt yourself, you're already pretty beat up as it is."

"You know what I mean..."

"I could use some rest right now," she said, trying to sound nonchalant, but unable to hide some of her nervousness. "Just let me know if I'm hurting you," she added, gesturing for him to scoot over.

Stiles, wide-eyed and nonplussed, obeyed, and Lydia sat on the edge of his bed and kicked off her shoes. She willed herself to stop blushing so hard before looking at him again, and from the way he was looking at her, she realized that she was a complete idiot. How had it not occurred to her that he was adorable? As carefully as she could, she lowered herself onto the mattress, avoiding his injured foot, and resting her head on his shoulder.

She relaxed after a moment and wrapped her arm over his stomach, making sure to keep away from the broad scars on his chest. He was warm and smelled nice, in spite of the antiseptic and the hospital gown, he still smelled like himself.

Lydia had no idea how long they stayed like that, but when she checked, Stiles was fast asleep, one arm around her shoulders, and Lydia realized she hadn't felt more at peace in a very long time. Someone was bound to walk in and find them like that, Nurse McCall or the Sheriff, or maybe they already had. She certainly didn't care anyway.

* * *

_And now the final chapter! See you there! Hope you liked this one!_

_-Vale._


	17. Chapter 17

_Super short ending to wrap it up. Sorry if it's wishy-washy, it was late and I really wanted to get this over with. (SO I CAN MOVE ON TO ANOTHER STORY YAY!)_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf, but if I did, LOOK! ALLISON ALIVE! SO MUCH STYDIA! HAPPY DAYS! Sorry, I'm kidding, I love you, Jeff Davis, you're the best, but please just give me Stydia already... *sobs*_

* * *

**Found**

Epilogue

_by HappyValentina_

Over the next few days, everyone visited Stiles every day. Even Aiden came to visit him once. Also Danny and Greenberg and Coach Finstock, and a few officers from his dad's department. Scott's dad was probably the most awkward visit, but Lydia could see the man was trying to be civil. And Stiles wasn't even snarky toward him once.

On the day before Stiles would be released from the hospital, it was agreed to do another MRI on Stiles, since they hadn't been able to finish last time. The Sheriff seemed confident that this time the results would be different, but Lydia couldn't quite be so hopeful. All night the night before she kept remembering the things she had seen in Stiles's memories, about his mother's deteriorating health, and it was so painful to think that the same thing could be afflicting the boy she loved. That she could be wrong, that maybe it hadn't just been the Nogitsune.

"Ok, Stiles, we're nearly done," the doctor said over the speaker after about forty minutes of being silent. For Lydia, it was possibly the longest forty minutes of her life; not just because she once again could clearly hear the loud clanging of the MRI machine hammering in her head, but because she felt completely helpless watching through a window while Stiles lay still inside a big white machine, waiting for the verdict on his mental health. Also, the doctor's reluctance to say anything was nerve-wrecking as hell.

"You okay?" Scott asked her for the umpteenth time that week. She nodded, although she was sure she'd need a heck of an aspirin once it was over. Beside them, Sheriff Stilinski seemed to be holding on to dear like by Melissa's hands.

The doctor suddenly turned off the machine thoughtfully, and they watched Stiles come out of it slowly, still laying down. He lifted his head to look at them, seemingly afraid to get up.

"Well, I think it's safe to say that Stiles is going to be fine," the doctor said after a moment, staring intently at the screens in front of him, looking a little confused. "This is amazing, this... a week ago it showed signs of atrophy, and now... there's nothing... nothing at all. Interesting, but..." he turned on the microphone to speak into the other room. "Okay, Stiles, you can get up now."

"What do you mean there's nothing?" the Sheriff asked, eyes wide and hopeful.

"Nothing that we saw before. No sign of atrophy at all. We should perform this test regularly, at least once a year; since his mother had frontotemporal dementia, he could still inherit it, but for now it seems that he's just fine."

The Sheriff proceeded to hug the doctor briefly, mumbling thank you's, and then pulled Melissa into a tight hug. Scott gave a deep sigh of relief and turned to look at Lydia, but Lydia was already running toward the other room, flinging the door wide open. Stiles was barely sitting up when Lydia wrapped her arms around him, breathing a sign of relief.

"So I take it I'm not going to die?" he asked.

"Well, there's always the chance of dying at the hands of some supernatural creature," she said, laughing into his neck. "And if you do that, I will kill you."

* * *

When Stiles finally got out of the hospital, he did so on crutches. The doctor gave him a removable brace for his foot and forbade him from taking it off or trying to put any weight on his foot for at least a month. At least it was certainly a conversation starter. People at school stopped him in the hallways to ask him what had happened.

"Uh, I fell out of a window," was the usual excuse he gave.

Coach Finstock wasn't too happy about having half of his lacrosse team missing/benched.

Lydia and Allison walked out of Calculus when the lunch bell rang, and Lydia had barely talked to Stiles all day, not having had any classes with him. She was both elated and nervous, like she was having one of the feelings of foreboding, only less intense.

She spotted Stiles halfway down the main corridor, standing next to Scott as the Alpha werewolf helped his best friend with his school books and his locker. Stiles looked well, if one ignored the crutches. There were no traces of hellish nights of bad dreams or sleepwalking. He chatted animatedly, as if he hadn't been missing for days.

"Lydia!" he shouted as soon as he spotted her, and awkwardly started wobbling in her direction. He seemed to be getting used to the crutches, moving faster on them. He stood in front of her, smiled, and bent down to peck her on the cheek. Lydia immediately turned red, glancing around to catch the puzzled looks of a few passersby.

"Oh, uh, should I not have done that?" he asked nervously, catching her expression. "I'm sorry, I just really wanted to do that, I have barely seen you all day, and I've been kind of having a hard time, getting around on these-"

Stiles was cut off when Lydia shrugged and grabbed him by the neck, pulling him down to her so she could kiss him properly. She might have gotten a bit carried away. Maybe she relished the looks people were giving them, or just enjoying Stiles's reaction, but she was suddenly too into it.

"Hey, hey, hey, hands where I can see them!" Coach Finstock said as he passed by. Even he did a double-take. Lydia let go of Stiles and chuckled.

"Sorry, I just really wanted to do that," she said, biting her lip.

"Okay, we get it, Lydia," Scott said with a big grin on his face. "Care to take it easy on him? The guy's on crutches, you're not helping by throwing him off balance even more."

Lydia smiled smugly as she walked besides Stiles toward the cafeteria, following Scott and Allison. Stiles seemed a bit dazed for a moment, but then glanced down.

"Do you actually carry that around with you?"

Lydia looked down to see what he was looking at. Inside her open bag, between her sunglasses and her makeup bag, was her framed drawing of the Nemeton.

"Uh yeah," she replied as nonchalantly as she could.

"I was going to give you that later."

"Well I found it first. "

"And you carry it around in your bag," he said with a curious smile. She shrugged, sure that she was blushing slightly again.

"I like to think of it as a luck charm."

"Interesting."

Lydia cleared her throat. "Well, good luck charms can be just about anything, especially if they're a gift. It has to do with the favorable associations. Like the omamori, the Japanese amulets, they are traditionally made from wood and paper, and they give you good luck or protection. This is wood and paper," she said, pointing to the drawing, "and I decided that it wards off bad luck. And I know it sounds silly, but I don't take any chances anymore."

Stiles stared at her silently for a moment, a smile playing on his lips.

"My girlfriend is the hottest nerd ever," he muttered, grinning widely as he held the door open for her into the cafeteria. Lydia rolled her eyes and smiled too, walking in.

She had no idea how to let herself be treated like a princess, and she didn't quite like it that much. She wasn't used to having this kind of attention from the guy that she would be dating, and Stiles seemed to be a natural at it. It was disarmingly sweet.

"Stiles, would you please sit down? You're the one with the broken foot! I can pull my own chair!" she exclaimed exasperatedly. Stiles made a kicked puppy face as she pulled out a chair for him, while Scott, Kira, Allison and Isaac watched them with amused expressions. Lydia calmed down when Stiles sat down, and she held his hand under the table.

Who was she kidding? She loved all the attention he gave her. She loved being treated like a princess, and she loved being with him. And she was determined to enjoy it for as long as she could, before their lives could be thrown into turmoil once again. It would happen soon enough, she didn't doubt it. But in the meantime, they were going to be fine.

* * *

_AAAAAAND THAT'S A WRAP!_

_Sorry it took me so long to finish, I just really wanted to make sure there were no loose ends, no plot-holes, etc. I really wanted to do my best._

_Thank you to the readers, and especially to the people who reviewed and show their support. I really hope you enjoyed it, as much as I enjoyed writing it. This turned out way longer than I expected, but that's the thing about Teen Wolf, and especially about my babies Stiles and Lydia, you can just get carried away._

_Here's to a great Season four, and an abundance of Stydia to look forward to. We'll see you there!_

_-Vale._


End file.
